Referee shortage-why does it cost money to become a ref

[Anonymous]

$85 plus the cost of equipment and clothes.

[Anonymous]

crybaby

[Anonymous]

Because somebody has to pay the administrative costs and instructors?

[Anonymous]

I'm a bit put off by the $85 every year to recertify. I understand the very first time when you become a ref and you do field training and there are instructors present, etc etc but every year I pay the same $85 to take an online test. I always felt that they should somehow reimburse you for that fee if you referee so many games that year...say 10, so that you would get paid for those 10 games plus get your registration fees reimbursed.

[Anonymous]

Is the $85 the reason referees quit? No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a bit put off by the $85 every year to recertify. I understand the very first time when you become a ref and you do field training and there are instructors present, etc etc but every year I pay the same $85 to take an online test. I always felt that they should somehow reimburse you for that fee if you referee so many games that year...say 10, so that you would get paid for those 10 games plus get your registration fees reimbursed.

Some leagues do reimburse you if you ref X games for them.

[Anonymous]

The clubs end up paying bonus money on the backend to get people to ref games during shortages. It would be wiser to pay that money up front to get more referees to be certified. They could do something like requiring you to ref a certain number of games but anything that can be done to remove friction to certifying refs would be a good idea

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a bit put off by the $85 every year to recertify. I understand the very first time when you become a ref and you do field training and there are instructors present, etc etc but every year I pay the same $85 to take an online test. I always felt that they should somehow reimburse you for that fee if you referee so many games that year...say 10, so that you would get paid for those 10 games plus get your registration fees reimbursed.

Some leagues do reimburse you if you ref X games for them.

Can you share which leagues?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the $85 the reason referees quit? No.

It might not be why they quit but it could be why they don't start.

[Anonymous]

My son was interested but didn’t want to spend money before he had a chance to make any money, so he passed.

[Anonymous]

My DD stopped reffing because of scheduling conflicts with her soccer games and tournaments. She couldn't ref enough games to cover the recertification costs and make it somewhat worthwhile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD stopped reffing because of scheduling conflicts with her soccer games and tournaments. She couldn't ref enough games to cover the recertification costs and make it somewhat worthwhile.

This is effectively why leagues don’t cover the cost of certification/recertification. They would end up with a bunch of people holding onto certifications indefinitely at the league’s expense when they don’t plan to ref enough to make it worthwhile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD stopped reffing because of scheduling conflicts with her soccer games and tournaments. She couldn't ref enough games to cover the recertification costs and make it somewhat worthwhile.

This is effectively why leagues don’t cover the cost of certification/recertification. They would end up with a bunch of people holding onto certifications indefinitely at the league’s expense when they don’t plan to ref enough to make it worthwhile.

That’s why I think reimbursing after X number of games completed is best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD stopped reffing because of scheduling conflicts with her soccer games and tournaments. She couldn't ref enough games to cover the recertification costs and make it somewhat worthwhile.

This is effectively why leagues don’t cover the cost of certification/recertification. They would end up with a bunch of people holding onto certifications indefinitely at the league’s expense when they don’t plan to ref enough to make it worthwhile.

That’s why I think reimbursing after X number of games completed is best.

Okay, but then they would need to decrease the pay rate to offset the cost of (re)certification.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the $85 the reason referees quit? No.

Depending on how many weeks you plan to ref, it’s a decent portion of the pay