Central Oregonian

I’m not an official, but ...

Officiating is never easy, however consistency is critical

Lon Austin

I don’t know how many times I have heard spectators say ‘I’m not an official, but I can do better than that.’

Generally, I feel like turning around and telling the individual “then go ahead and try it.”

After all, there is a constant shortage of officials. At worst, if spectators who complain about officiating try it once or twice they will have a new appreciation for how tough it is to be an official. Better yet, if it turns out that the spectator really can do a better job then we have just improved the officiating situation. Either way, everyone wins.

Even under the best of conditions, officiating is a challenging and difficult task and officials often don’t work under the best of conditions.

Witness the frightening attack on a football official at a Sarasota, Fla. middle school game a week ago. The official was tackled, then mobbed by parents and kicked and stomped on. The crowd was eventually restrained, but the official was hospitalized.

The crowd’s behavior was both startling and inexcusable.

most of the time I will absolutely defend officials — even when they make mistakes as long as officials are consistent and in control I will defend them.

That’s why it will come as a surprise to hear me say “I’m not an official, but...”

In the past week I have witnessed some officiating that has left me scratching my head.

Coaches rarely talk about officiating to the press. In professional sports they get fined when they question calls following games. In high school and college athletics they may have the same official again later and don’t want to risk angering an official. So although coaches routinely question calls during games it is rare to hear anything from them following games.

Likewise, sports reporters generally report what was actually called rather than what they think should have been called.

Consequently, what I’m about to say is unusual to say the least.

Last Friday night when the Cowboys took on the Henley Hornets in football I saw some officiating that left me questioning my eyes. Tuesday’s soccer game between Crook County and Sisters left me absolutely baffled.

I will be the first to admit I’m not an official. In fact I tried it once or twice in the late 1970’s and the world is a better place because I stopped officiating.

Perhaps what I think I saw this past week wasn’t what really happened. Perhaps I have a lack of understanding of the rules. Perhaps there is a valid explanation for the calls that I questioned.

It could be me, but I’m afraid that I honestly believe ‘I’m not an official, but I could have done a better job than that.’

To begin with on Friday night Crook County lost two fumbles that appeared to have not really been fumbles. First Crook County quarterback Kole Brewer burst up the middle for a first down, then lost the ball when he hit the ground. Then in a nearly identical play running back Tyler Rockwood also lost the ball. When a runner’s knee hits the ground play is supposed to be dead and in both cases it looked like far more than a knee was down before the ball came lose.

Whether a ball is a fumble or not is obviously a judgment call. Since I am probably biased then it is possible that my judgment is what is at error. The problem is that Henley also had a pair of balls come out late and in each case the officials ruled that the runner was down before the ball came lose. To my untrained eye all four plays looked the same except that one of the Crook County “fumbles” was even later coming loose than the Henley non-fumbles.

However, the fumbles weren’t even the strangest part of the officiating.

Immediately after the first Crook County fumble Henley’s quarterback dropped back to pass and was surrounded by Crook County defenders. As he was going down he tossed the ball weakly out towards the sideline. It appeared to be a deliberate attempt to avoid the sack. There was no pass receiver in the area and the ball didn’t even reach the line of scrimmage. However, there was no penalty called. It seemed so obvious that I’m not sure what either the officials or I missed.

There were several calls in the game that just seemed strange. Strange to the point that one almost began to question if the officials were trying to help Henley. However, I know that wasn’t the case because late in the game Henley was driving for what could have been the go ahead touchdown and they were flagged for a major penalty which killed their drive.

So obviously the fix wasn’t in. For some reason the officials and I just didn’t seem to be watching the same game.

As much as I question the quality of officiating Friday night it is Tuesday’s soccer game that really has me confused.

I will be the first to admit that I’m not an expert on soccer. I played the game a little bit when I was young, but I never really learned the rules.

What I do know is that what I saw doesn’t seem to be consistent.

Early in the game Sisters goalie blocked a shot. The ball rebounded into space and Crook County forward Phillip Splerling charged for the ball. To me it looked like he attempted to leap over Sisters goal keeper only to have the keeper reach out and trip him. I as well much of the crowd was expecting Splerling to get a penalty kick. Instead he was called for overly aggressive play around the goalie.

I’d be fine with the call except then in the second half virtually the same thing happened. Crook County goalie Brady Slater blocked a shot and the ball rebounded out in front of him. Slater reached out to grab the ball and appeared to partially control it with one hand. Sisters forward Robert Small kicked the ball out of his hand and into the goal.

Crook County protested, but the officials ruled that Slater didn’t have control of the ball and the goal counted.

Crook County head coach Joel Carrillo said that generally to be considered to have control of the ball a goalie needs to have both hands on the ball. Slater only had one hand on the ball, however, that is clearly more control than the Sisters goalie had. He wasn’t even close to the ball. I just don’t see how both calls could be correct.

However, that isn’t what leaves me scratching my head the most.

In the first half, a Sisters forward appeared to take a dive in the penalty box. Then, after he fell, a Crook County defender stumbled over him. The official ruled that the defender tripped the offensive player and awarded the offensive player a penalty kick.

In the second half, the exact circumstances occurred only it was the Crook County player who ended up on the ground. However, no penalty was called. I actually think the second call was correct, but not the first.

Later in the game Sisters was called for fouls twice when Crook County appeared to be clearly in the penalty box.

Naturally I assumed that since a foul was called and the player fell in the box penalty kicks would be forthcoming.

Instead, in both instances, the official places the ball outside the penalty area. To the untrained eye what it looked like is that he reasoned that Sisters did commit fouls, but they weren’t severe enough to reward Crook County with penalty kicks. So he compromised and called the foul but then manipulated the outcome so there would be no penalty shot.

Maybe there is more to the calls then I understand, but that’s what I think I saw.

The interesting thing is that what spectators see is often a matter of perspective. On the calls in question Crook County fans complained that no penalty kicks were awarded while Sisters fans complained that a foul was called at all.

I guess it’s all a matter of perspective and maybe I’m not as impartial as I claim to be. So the next time I see a questionable call one thing is for sure. You aren’t going to hear me say ‘I’m not an official, but....’ Instead, I’m just going to stand to one side and scratch my head.