With the fall season of high school sports about to get underway, there’s just one glaring problem at the moment: there’s a serious shortage of referees across Louisiana. The state has fewer than a thousand working refs statewide for football games, which involve 20,000 players. Of those officials, 60% of them are over the age of 50. That’s the word from the Louisiana High School Athletic Association. Director of Officials Lee Sanders says the shortage may lead to game delays and cancellations. “We see the lack of trained, qualified officials as one of the biggest challenges to high school sports regardless of what community in the state we’re speaking of.” As reported by the Louisiana Radio Network (LRN), Sanders says the association has launched a recruitment campaign. He explains, “When you say seven out of every 100 officials are under the age of 30, and 25 are over the age of 60, those demographics long term don’t bode well for anybody who loves sports.” In the meantime, Sanders says some high school football games will continue to be moved to Thursday nights to guarantee that referees will be able to work the games. For information on working as a ref visit the Louisiana High School Officials Association website at LHSAA.com.
The referee shortage extends to the national level. According to a 2022 study by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), “About 50,000 people stopped officiating since the 2018-19 season, which was the last unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Research indicates a connection between the decline in sportsmanship and the referee shortage. In fact, a 2023 National Officiating Survey, conducted by the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO) revealed “More than 50% of all respondents have feared for their safety at some point in their career because of administrator, coach, player or spectator behavior.” Nearly 12% of all referees responded that they have been physically assaulted during or after a sporting event. And 60% of referees answered they were underpaid.
