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I am posting this to bring AWARENESS!!!!!!!!!!!

I am also NOT claiming to know ALL the facts, but I am communicating the facts as they were given to me.

The objective of this post is to acquire more factual information. SHARE THE FACTS AS YOU KNOW THEM SO THIS SITUATION CAN BE RESOLVED.

The word on the street is the athletic directors of the Big 10 Conference (Marion, Harrison, Lewis, etc, etc) voted to keep paying the wrestling referees the same amount of money that they have been getting per match, tri, quad, etc.

The additional word on the street is the refs have been getting paid the same amount of money for the past 10 years.

As the story was communicated to be, this is currently a Big 10 school issue for now.

Fuel costs are up. The refs do travel long distances at times. Many to most Athletic Directors probably have never been to see their school wrestle. We already talked a few years ago about principals not coming to matches.

Opening day is November 30th. My good friend TrueSouthFanInMarionCounty told me about this late last night.

I suggest everybody becomes knowledgeable about this situation. If your current schedule has you traveling to a quad being hosted by a Big 10 school, you better ensure a referee will be there.

I stopped reading after you wrote that you did not know the facts.

Doyablameme? wrote:I stopped reading after you wrote that you did not know the facts.

Two mistakes were made.

1. I fixed mine by adding the word "ALL".

2. You quit reading where you said and didn't read where I said "the facts as they were communicated to me".

This type of mindset is probably why the situation exists.

We should be talking about wrestling matches this week instead of stand offs between referees and athletic directors over what might come down to an extra $25 to $40 bucks a wrestling event.

Bearhugger wrote:

Doyablameme? wrote:I stopped reading after you wrote that you did not know the facts.

Two mistakes were made.

1. I fixed mine by adding the word "ALL".

2. You quit reading where you said and didn't read where I said "the facts as they were communicated to me".

This type of mindset is probably why the situation exists.

We should be talking about wrestling matches this week instead of stand offs between referees and athletic directors over what might come down to an extra $25 to $40 bucks a wrestling event.

I think you are making a big issue out of essentially nothing. And you are the only one “ talking about it” not we … IMO

Doyablameme? wrote:

Bearhugger wrote:

Doyablameme? wrote:I stopped reading after you wrote that you did not know the facts.

Two mistakes were made.

1. I fixed mine by adding the word "ALL".

2. You quit reading where you said and didn't read where I said "the facts as they were communicated to me".

This type of mindset is probably why the situation exists.

We should be talking about wrestling matches this week instead of stand offs between referees and athletic directors over what might come down to an extra $25 to $40 bucks a wrestling event.

I think you are making a big issue out of essentially nothing. And you are the only one “ talking about it” not we … IMO

There is a school trying to host a home quad this Friday and they still do not know if they will have referees.

I guess my question would be, what is the "same amount"? While I sympathize with official's needing to make a decent amount, it also needs to be noted that if the cost of officials goes up, so does the cost of entry fees, gate fees and concessions. A quick look at the front page shows that 10 tournaments now cost $250 or more to enter. Seven more are $200 or $220. I have also heard people complain about it costing $7-$10 to get into a tournament when it used to only be $5.

I'm not going to speak on what may or may not be going on within that area, but what I will say when it comes to paying officials is that there is a serious shortage of wrestling officials. And it's near a crisis level. Perhaps a raise in pay is to simply attract more individuals to come out and officiate?

I don't want to get into a sob story, but low numbers results in officials spreading themselves thin to ensure every match is covered. Something has to give. We cannot continue to work 6 on 5, or 7 on 6, etc in order to keep everyone happy. Eventually, we will tell schools that we cannot cover your matches because we don't have enough officials to properly cover the match (remember, safety is a big factor here as well...the last thing you want is an official who has been on the mat all day because he can't get a decent break from a rotation...and now here we are at the finals and he is mentally and physically exhausted).

I will only speak for myself...but if our numbers don't grow in the Kanawha Southern board....whether I officiate next season or not will be a very easy decision to make.

The word on the street is this situation was resolved without a match being cancelled.