Stuart Coles

"News surrounding the Coventry Blaze, the EIHL and UK hockey in general"

Coventry • United Kingdom • 28 Years Old • Male

[email protected]

How To Improve An Unofficial Official

In an earlier posting, I eluded to the fact that poor officiating in the UK wasn't all the fault of the men in stripes, but in fact was mostly due to the system in which they work in. In this short (well, as short as I ever get) piece, I am going to try and explain why.

Referees over here do this in their spare time. They all have full time jobs, and they don't get paid much for this extra work. If the reward for such a difficult job is low, they must be doing it because they enjoy it, in some form. Why on earth would you want to do such a difficult job when criticism comes so easily?

A lot of referees have some attachment to the game, be it as an ex-player, a fan of the sport or maybe the parent of a junior. They developed a love for the sport, as can only be expected, and wanted to continue their involvement. Logically speaking, officiating would appear to be a good choice.

The level of criticism has increased over the past two seasons, since the leagues over here tried to bring in zero-tolerance (ZT) calling. I don't believe you can effectively call ZT with just a one-man system (one ref, two linesmen). From watching the NHL on TV here, it seems that quite often it's the back referee who makes a call, rather than the guy up with the play. If the league announces that they are going to start calling it like the NHL, and the fans see major differences in how things are being called, then criticism will surely ensue.

It would then make sense to have a two-man system like the NHL over here, to ensure that the games are approximately the same. That is actually near impossible, since the number of officials is so low that having two per game would result in not every game being able to be played! That's right, for the EIHL there are less than 10 officials, and very few coming through.

Part of that may be related to the criticism, but the system in which referees develop can also be questioned. They start at junior level and work their way up (U10's etc...) but with very little in the way of experienced guidance or courses. Remember these guys are doing it in their spare time, there's no midweek meetings or evaluation courses. In fact, it's really on the EIHL and some EPL games that get filmed, so there's no way of appraising an official unless you're actually there. So what they learn is done in the off-season or through experience.

How much experience can you really get from two teams of U12's? It's non contact, so penalties like boarding, elbows etc you never see. Then when you do progress to a level where you can see it, it's at a speed that you're not used to and find difficult to judge, particularly as a young official.

The low numbers also mean that many junior and even senior ENL games are officiated by just two people, or even in some cases this year one. This makes it an even harder task for the officials, when things go wrong and coaches / fans are on their back, they end up thinking, "Well I'm doing my best here, if that's not good enough and I'm on my own, well just forget it." And who can blame them?

The solution in this case is simple. Money, and more of it. Perhaps not to pay the officials, but to allow them to have proper training. Courses, feedback. If the system is improved and the guys have greater support, more will stay on and then the top level will reap the benefits with higher numbers of competent officials making the grade.

The ideal situation is to have the top officials as professionals, getting paid to do their job and being evaluated, constantly improving their performance. Indeed that costs money, and significant amounts of it. But the game would benefit in the long run. It could even be something as simple as adding an extra pound on to ticket prices and giving it to the referee's association. The average gate in Coventry is around 2,000. That's £2,000 per game which equates to £48,000 per season. That's enough to adequately fund one official, and allow him to impart his experience and knowledge on younger officials coming through the ranks.

If only life was that simple...

PS. On the 'Am I going to Sheffield?' question, the answer is no. It's cold, I've got training as well, so I really can't be bothered! Let's Go Blaze!