With less than a month until the first kickoff of high school football, there’s a pigskin problem in the Lone Star State.
A referee shortage has local groups scrambling before the scrimmages.
The Dallas Football Officials Association is down around 75 referees with the Fort Worth Football Officials group down around 125.
Referees said it’s getting increasingly hostile at games.
“The middle school games are really where the abuse seems to be the worst,” said Rory Bernard, the president of the Dallas Football Officials Association.
“The abuse that officials receive on the sideline, whether it be from coaches, athletes [or] fans on the field,” Bernard added. “Now we have Twitter [and] Facebook, that gives us issues.”
They said sometimes the pay is not worth the punishment.
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“For a 7th grade (game), you make about $100. We're not getting rich off this,” he said.
The pay for varsity games is better — especially the high-profile games. The referees get a portion of the money brought in at the gate.
Dallas officials say the Friday night football tradition should be fine for now, but that may not always be the case.
“We can get by with what we have, but we don't want to just get by,” Bernard said. “A lot of other states are already encountering that problem where they have to move games because they don't have enough officials.”
Men and women who are looking to become referees can get more information at www.dfoa.com and www.fwfo.org.
