“Hey ref, why don’t you get a real job?”
Those were the words shouted by a middle-aged man rising from his seat in Section 120 at Agganis Arena Saturday night, toward the end of the first period of what can only be described as target practice for the Boston University men’s hockey team.
From where I was standing in Section 119, I watched as the man’s children pulled him back down to his seat, presumably asking their father to calm down a bit in front of all of these people. He did, and the rest of the game went on without any more interruptions from the man above Section 120.
The question he posed, however, is one that a lot of people ask. If there is one thing that Yankees, Red Sox, Celtics, Lakers, BU and BC fans can come together on, it’s that the referees are terrible. They’re killing the game. They don’t know the rules. Any slob could do better than them.
These statements could not be further from the truth.
The referee is perhaps the most important person on the field of play. Referees help to keep the game moving and make sure rules are followed. Without them, almost all games would simply be one large mess.
The amount of training referees put in before any game day is staggering. During a labor dispute with the NFL in 2000, the NFL Referees Association commissioned an accounting firm to determine the average amount of time per week referees spent in preparation for games. The firm found that most referees spend about 30 hours per week on league related business, doing everything from watching game film to studying the rule book to taking rules tests.
The same can be said for officials in other sports. ESPN’s Outside the Lines ran a piece last month on how college basketball officials regularly pay hundreds of dollars and drive thousands of miles for a chance to hone their skills at elite camps. MLB umpires must take a month-long course to even be considered a worthy candidate.
Despite all of their training however, referees do occasionally get calls wrong. What may now be the most famous case came during a Sept. 14, 2008 game between the San Diego Chargers and the Denver Broncos. Famed and respected referee Ed Hochuli mistakenly called what was actually a Broncos fumble an incomplete pass and cost San Diego the game.
Chargers fans vented for weeks about how terrible Hochuli was, even after he apologized for what he realized within seconds was a blown call. Some fans still haven’t forgiven him to this day.
One of the things that allowed Hochuli to not dwell on the mistake for long, however, was his “real” job. Hochuli is a noted criminal lawyer in his home state of Arizona. He’s not alone in the officiating community for having a day job to help fill the gaps between games.
According to ESPN, Hochuli, who played football through college, made just $38 plus mileage per high school game. Despite that low wage, he said, “I love it. I just love still being part of the game.”
At the college level, a vast majority of referees call games for the love of the sport and a chance to feel young again. Unlike the professionals, college referees in all sports are employed at the will of the conferences and aren’t protected by any union, meaning at they could be fired at any point.
The future prospects for major collegiate conferences hiring permanent referees are slim.
“I just don’t think it’s feasible. I think the costs of employee benefits, the costs it would take to hire them away from their full-time jobs, I don’t think that’s out there,” said Curtis Shaw, head of officiating for basketball for the Big 12, Conference USA, Southland and Ohio Valley conferences.
Two of the four Hockey East officials working Saturday night’s game actually have listed their other occupations on the conference website. (Referee John Gravallese is listed as a contractor while linesman Bob Bernard earns his pay as a software engineer.) Other HE referees have careers ranging from teacher to lawyer to U.S. Customs agent.
Simply put, 43 officials employed by the conference have “real jobs” off the ice.
When the man from Section 120 indirectly told the refs that they should seek out their local unemployment office during the game, he probably did not realize how hard many of them work at not one, but two jobs.