Intramurals: Referees play role, for better or worse

Passion for flag football is evidenced by the 90-plus teams participating in GCSU intramurals this season. Students of all majors, fraternity and sorority affiliates, and a smattering of staff members all come together under the bright lights and ever-cooling night air on the fields behind The Village at West Campus to enjoy the games.

Another group of sport enthusiasts are also present at every game: intramural referees. They give the game continuity and set a standard of play for all teams and create a fair and consistent environment.

Brian McKinnon, a sophomore biology pre-med major, has been pleased with the quality of referees so far.

“I see a lot of good refs out there doing their job. There’s not many discrepancies,” he said.

TJ Berglund, a senior business major, was also positive about intramural refs this year.

“The refs are definitely doing a great job,” Berglund said. “Much better than three or four years ago when I was a young’un.”

Throughout most intramural participants, there is an optimistic light about referees working hard and keeping games controlled but fun. However, some students feel a lack of training and commitment is casting a negative pall over flag football games.

“So far I would say the refs for our games have done a sub-par job,” Jeremy Miller, a senior marketing management major and member of Pike’s “A” league team, said. “I would actually be willing to say piss-poor.”

Miller’s comments are in particular reference to three calls he believes were either unnecessary or simply incorrect. He also has issues with the intramural staff potentially targeting his fraternity during games.

“All the intramural staff will line up on our sidelines,” Miller said. “They’re going to hear everything our fans say and none of what the other team’s fans say and I guarantee they’ll call penalties on us and they won’t on other teams. ”

Trey Dunn, a sophomore history major, was fervent about his feelings towards GCSU referees.

“They blow. Can I say that? They blow,” Dunn said. “They don’t know what’s going on. They’re ignorant.”

Pessimistic outlooks towards refs are the minority. Most people are satisfied with the job done and believe they are necessary to the GCSU intramural sports experience. Self-officiating games was not even an option for the vast majority of participants; almost everyone cited potential fights and cheating as the most likely outcome.

GCSU intramural referee and senior history major, Patrick Pitts, has been enjoying his job for three years. What began as an easy way to make extra income turned into an arena for meeting new people and a chance to stay around sports.

Pitts tries to keep his emotions in check while on the field. He understands the zeal of the players when it is game time.

“Unless a player makes it personal, I don’t take anything said to me personally,” Pitts said. “As I’ve been told many times ‘they’re mad at the stripes, not you.’ As long as things don’t get out of hand or personal, I usually just try to ignore it and keep on doing my job.”

When players reach a boiling point with refs and attitudes become too much to handle, referee Justin Burch, a senior history major, tries to defuse the situation peacefully.

“I believe the best way to deal with an angry player is to first try to explain whatever call was made to that player,” Burch said. “Usually, when you explain the call, people calm down. When you just make a call and have no reasoning to back the call up, that’s when people get mad and games can get out of control.”
Joey Nipper, second year referee and sophomore mass communication major, has used his refereeing experience at GCSU as a platform for other prospective jobs.

“Working intramurals leads to a lot of opportunities for some of us as officials,” Nipper said. “Some of us do high school sports and recreational league sports.”

At times, the relationship between officials and players can be delicate. The fast-paced game of flag football, mixed with intense emotion from players, is part of the charm that GCSU intramurals has. Referees are vital to the games. They keep emotion in check while allowing the competitive nature of the sport to shine, which ultimately increases an already healthy GCSU intramural program.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 3 2008. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry