Question Number: 24192

Other 10/18/2010

RE: California Youth Soccer Association league Under 15

Mike of Clements, CA USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 24170

The head referee for our league, who I understand assigns all the referees to all the different age group games, decided he needed to be the main referee in our game. His son was on the opposing team. I confronted him before the game and explained to him that this was a conflict of interest. He said that none of the referees that he supervised wanted to referee the game because none of them wanted to referee this particular game because they all knew the players on each team and they did not want to be in the middle of a real competitive game. I believe outside referees should be hired to referee our next game with this team. Your thoughts?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mike
In general it is not a good idea to be refereeeing in games where close relations are playing due to a possible conflict of interest. Also teams always in these situations accuse referees of bias even where there is none.
Having said that I would have to take the assignors word for it and get on with it. I'm not sure knowing players on a team is a good enough reason not to referee but ultimately if the referee group don't want to do the game that's their choice.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Perhaps there aren't that many referees in the area that are qualified to do games at your level, and those that are qualified were either were busy or reluctant as the assignor/referee stated. Better that the dad referee the game, with the knowledge of the other team, than having to reschedule it. Most likely, he will be harder on his son's team just to show that he is not being biased.

Getting referees from outside the area isn't always possible either, especially if you're at some distance from the next city that has a soccer program. Why would someone spend the time and money to travel 20, 30 or 40 miles to a game, when she could have stayed home and done two games in the same timespan?

If you feel that the referee/assignor was deliberately placing himself on the game so he could give his son's team an advantage, then there is a bigger problem. You should contact the state referee association to report the conflict. It would be a violation of the assigning guidelines.