The assignor blues

Just two more weeks of the high school season and the claws have come out. From the players, you may ask? Nope, fellow referees. There seems to always be people (and as a result, referees) who are quite sure they are never in the wrong and hold ill will toward those who bring up points of fact that contradict their world view.

Now, I have no proof that a particular referee is living under the delusion that their rump don't produce smelly but given a situation that recently occurred and the subsequent actions of this official, I have strong suspicions. Based solely on the questioning of this official's knowledge and applications of the rules of high school soccer, I wouldn't be inclined to suspect a vindictive retaliation. However, this particular official has gotten severely bitchy-cakes at another assignor in our association because of the level of assignments this official received. And after I called this official's performance at a match into question, not only did I receive a none too pleasant email regarding the incident from the official's pov but also this official has been giving back matches with little time for me to re-assign the match. And made no attempt to contact me to explain the reason for the latest give back. I wouldn't mind too much if it weren't for the fact that I am struggling every day trying to get enough officials to cover assignments and this particular referee assigned themselves matches every week at the beginning of the season.

Now, I love the self-assign feature our association uses but the way some people use it, just plain disrespectful. Before you say you are going to accept a match, check your schedule to insure you can actually do the match. And if something comes up, decline the match at the earliest possible moment, not a few days before. And if your schedule is odd, don't sign up for matches until you know for sure you can be there. It really is that simple but some people don't think this way.

I weep for our future.