Question Number: 24840

League Specific 4/20/2011

RE: High School

Brian Vickers of Muscle Shoals, Alabama Colbert asks...

How many referees are required to play a High school division game

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

NFHS rules doe not specify a minimum. Your state and your league might adopt local rules that specify. In my area, there is a difference between JV (usually one referee); Varsity (usually two referees) playoff preliminary rounds (a referee and two assistant referees) and playoff finals (a referee, two assistants and a fourth official).

Note: high school permits the use of the dual system of control (two whistles). This system is not used in games played under the laws of the game. For many parents, high school is the only time they will see this system.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

It will depend on the high school rules in your state. Many games have just one referee, especially at lower levels. Some states allow for the dual system of refereeing (which is only feasible if the referees are well acquainted with one another, have similar refereeing styles, and the teams are not highly skilled or terribly fast); some states even use the ridiculous three whistle system and I'll stop there.

Most high schools use the referee and two assistant referees for all varsity games, and for all regional and state finals there should be fourth (and fifth) officials.

A great deal depends on the level of the game in your area, the sophistication of the schools, and the available pool of referees - and of course, those state HS rules of play.