As a referee for the city of Rockville, I need to apologize to every referee I have ever said was awful. I never realized how hard of a job it is because you have to deal with not only the players but the coaches and parents as well. 

Being a referee is a strenuous task. “I think reffing is getting harder because of the new rules being implemented and because the players are more skilled nowadays so calls are harder to judge,” junior Owen Lomotan said. 

I constantly hear insults and complaints from spectators when it isn’t all my fault most of the time. “They get treated unfairly because the refs only have one set of eyes, so they obviously can’t see or make every call,” junior Jared Su said. 

The calls I make are often disputed unless they are obvious, and the players still argue. The only exception to this seems to be if the ruling is unmistakable, for instance, if a player blatantly commits a foul. 

Referees are in a lose-lose situation because criticism is bound to come regardless of whether a certain ruling is made or not. One such time, I was officiating a basketball game. I chose not to call a reach-in foul because a team was trying to intentionally foul, which resulted in parents and players coming up to me and vocalizing complaints.

Another situation that is often controversial is a traveling violation in which a player takes more than two steps without dribbling the ball. There are often discrepancies between what I observe as the referee and what the spectators believe they have observed. “They have to attempt to make every call perfect and to the book,” junior Brian Haugabook said.

I also find that officials have to deal with players or fans who are criticizing their rulings. “Sometimes they are called names and and just protested against. They’re  doing the best they can do and they don’t have a hundred eyes like the fans do, they only have two eyes,” security officer Chris Pucciarelli said.

The worst part of officiating is that spectators have a tendency to blame refs for their team losing. “Perhaps—and hear me out—the refs are humans who are just as fallible as the players, and 99.99% of the time their mistakes mean nothing in the grand scheme of the game,” the website Fansided says.

Referees have one of the hardest and most stress-inducing jobs I have ever done and I hope that the next time your favorite team loses, you don’t blame the refs. My dad has always told me that the way to avoid this situation is to not put yourself in a situation where you are depending on a referee’s decision to win the game.