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[quote=skytalon_fc]Figured I'd make an account for the sole purpose of this post. I'll start talking more in here.

I'm a referee in the DMV, I've been going for about four years and I'd call myself a pretty good referee. I've got a range of experience and I'd say I'm better than a few of the "regional" referees you'll see out there. I've still got plenty to learn but I'm mighty passionate about it and I have some very strong opinions about the perceptions of referees. I think Taylor Twellman and Alexi Lalas have peanut brains and shouldn't be employed in soccer, solely because of how they've contributed to the perception of referees and how often they're just outright wrong. I'll go to a word war over refereeing and most often find myself cheering on the referees rather than teams, except when watching a specific handful of teams.

What league has the best referees?
As some may be aware, High School referees need a separate certification than club soccer. HS referees vary tremendously in quality - regular season it's a little underwhelming but playoff referees are generally pretty well seasoned. 
ECNL referees are entirely dependent on the HOME club. Maryland clubs will have pretty poor quality, as the assigning in Maryland isn't really ideal. I'm slightly unfamiliar with how Loudoun soccer assigns as they're pretty far from where I'm at and I tend not to go that far unless I need to. VDA, BRYC, McLean, and Arlington are all assigned by the same assignor, and he is a wonderful assignor and human being. Rarely are you going to see referees who stay in the center circle. You'll probably get a bit less experience, but they're not bad at all. Arlington started with really bad referees as they started the season with a really bad assignor, but they soon moved onto the better one.
MLS NEXT will have the highest quality referees in the country. The reason is that all MLS NEXT is assigned by the National Assignors pool. The same referees that are refereeing USL League Two and other adult amateur/semi-pro leagues are going to be refereeing MLS NEXT. In the DMV, sometimes those referees can be underwhelming - so don't expect anything near perfection - but it'll be the highest quality you'll get at the youth level.

SoccerCzar, I was one of the referees at the ECNL National Showcase in Richmond - hope I fell into that category of "excellent!" - what team(s) were you watching? I may have been involved in a match of yours.
RantingSoccerDad, I'm curious. What levels do you tend to ref at? [/quote]

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