06/13/2026
Our touchline behavior has to improve this season. This upcoming season we now have 108 Rec League Teams and 13 Club teams, this is the most ever! With this many additional teams we'll need more referees to officiate them. We struggle to find and recruit referees every year because of what this article describes. Many of our referees don't come back because they don't want to be verbally abused by hostile and distractive parents, they're done after one fall season, sometimes done after one game!
All of our referees are our local soccer friends and family. They are either Rec League or SUSC players, SUSC Coaches, TCYS Board members, and several others are all-around football lovers who want to make sure kids get to play soccer! So if you're hollering and making a commotion at one of them because you've become emotionally unregulated, then you're hollering at our soccer community and our family. Stop and think about that.
This article from soccerparenting.com paints a real picture on how hostile and distractive behavior affects referees and players who are both learning the game, and it's not easy as you think it is while sitting in the shade on your folding chair at the midline and a call is made on the other side of the field. Us parents must show them the support they need to learn, make mistakes, and succeed as much as we show our youth players. This article makes it clear on how and what we can do. Please read.
https://www.soccerparenting.com/blog/the-referee-shortage-isnt-about-referees-its-about-parents/
The youth soccer referee shortage is growing. Discover how parent behavior impacts referee retention and game availability.