Are referees really that bad?

Referees (refs) are tasked with keeping games fair and safe, but that often leads them to receive hate and blame from fans and athletes. In both high school and professional sports, athletes complain during the game and in postgame conferences.

I asked Lincoln students if they think officiating is a difficult job. 75% of students said yes.

This is interesting considering many of those students also had plenty to say about refs ruining games, missing calls and having too much ego.

I surveyed students who watch professional sports for their opinions on officiating. The results show a mix of respect and frustration.

So, what exactly do Lincoln students think about the people with the whistles?

Do you think refereeing is a difficult job?

Students said they believe the biggest challenge is making fast, accurate calls while fans, coaches and players are yelling.

“I think it can be hard to see exactly what happened in a game and if you make a call and fans get angry or don’t agree with the call you made, it can probably be stressful,” said junior athlete Layla Foster. “The ref has a lot of power and can make a lot of people angry accidentally,” said senior athlete Kellen Kafoury.

What makes you most angry at refs?

50% of students said missing obvious calls and 25% percent said overofficiating made them the most angry at refs. The remaining 25% said either overreacting to emotion or bias towards a team or star player frustrates them the most.

Overall, students find themselves most irritated when the officials make calls that feel unnecessary or disruptive and when they ignore fouls or violations that seem obvious to everyone watching.

Is the idea of “we lost because of officials” valid?

Nearly 88% of students said yes, but only in some situations. “If the ref has a blatantly bad call that completely switches the momentum or decides the game, it can be blamed on the refs and be valid,” said Kafoury.

“Some officials have been proven to bet on games. There are many games, especially in the NFL, that have been decided by one score or less, and that scoring position comes from a ref call,” said senior Ben Luria.

Lincoln students seem to agree on one thing: reffing is complicated.

Officiating might be one of the hardest jobs in sports, but it’s also the easiest to complain about. Refs can ruin games, frustrate fans and raise questions about professional sports.

Blaming refs will always be a part of sports culture, but maybe acknowledging the difficulty in the job is how we become better fans, athletes and coaches.