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Letters to the Editor
"Let's Start Paying Referees"
Bill,
Your tournament at Jordan a week ago got me thinking
about this thread again. Our
club took one mat, and provided table help and a ref for
both the Greco and Freestyle sessions, so we at least
tried to be part of the only solution that currently
exists for Utah wrestling.
However, it is just not good enough.
There were times that our mat had Schoolboy wrestlers as
referees. I watched both them, as well as some of our
more knowledgeable parents (and I won’t leave myself
out) make bad calls that effected the outcome of
matches. It is just a bad situation. Let’s up the
registration fees, and start paying refs. We may not get
enough right away, but It won’t take long. I have been
involved in youth football for many years. Ute
Conference pays refs $20 an hour, and now has more that
100 refs to call on for any weekend. It is good pay. If
we offer the pay, soon we will have trained refs that
are lining up to take the cash.
Doug Brown
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Reader's Response
I second this
idea!! Not only does it sometimes lead to bad outcomes
in matches, it also encourages "bad" behavior from
parents or others that think they might influence a
young ref into making a call in their favor.
I helped with a
table at Lone Peak. More than once, I saw a parent try
and "strong arm" one of the young men into making or
changing a call. A paid ref would most likely not put
up with this. Also, it is confusing for the younger
wrestlers who may still be trying to learn the sport to
not have a properly ref'd match.
In fairness to
the youth that have tried to help with this, they do an
extremely good job for what they have to deal with. I
have heard parents say they like to let their kids do
this because it helps them learn more about how they
wrestle, but I think that should be left for practices.
If we want to become a "class" organization we would be
willing to up the cost to do this.
Lisa
Respond to this Response
Reader's Response
Doug,
I was told this weekend what the competitive youth
soccer league in Utah pays its refs - I'm pretty sure it
was 30$/game. This is about a 1.5 hr job, so it is
consistent with the pay for the football officials.
Kevin Davis
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