What do forensics tournaments and soccer tournaments have in common?

From the point of view of the lowliest grassroots referee and a long-time forensics tournament director

So I did a thing… a couple of months ago, I refereed a two-day soccer tournament.^[1]You may wonder why I’m getting around to talking about it now. To be fair, I started writing this post at the tournament, but then life got in the way, and I finally decided to get around to … Continue reading Here’s some of what I’ve learned from the reffing side of soccer, and the tournament directing side of forensics:

• It’s hard to find enough judges/referees.
• Parents/competitors aren’t likely to love some of the judges/referees they do have.
• Parents/competitors/coaches complain about judges/referees sometimes in awkward ways (i.e., right in front of others, in front of the judge/referees they’re going to get again later in the tournament…).
• Most people who judge/ref do it for the love of the activity.
• While some people judge/ref for the money, it’s not going to make anyone filthy rich. That said, soccer refs do make more than forensics judges.
• We work judges/refs way too much without giving them many breaks.^[2] Yes, I know some people want to judge/ref every round. I’ll respond to that below.. That’s harmful in both cases.
• Coaches’ lounges/ref lounges can be a mixed bag.

I’ve also discovered a few differences:

• In soccer, the younger games pay less for the matches. Forensics doesn’t pay less just because you get a novice round. Yes, I know some of that is due to time for soccer matches (younger matches generally are shorter).
• There’s a lot more walking/running in soccer — although to be fair, I remember my share of running to rounds in forensics!^[3]A few tournaments come to mind: the Air Force National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) Nationals, NPDA Nationals at the University of the Pacific, and the infamous South Dakota State “The … Continue reading
• In soccer, the parents get to yell at the ref during the game. Individual events competitors and coaches have to wait until the tournament is over.^[4]I realize that’s not true in debate rounds where disclosure takes place. I’ve been yelled at a time or two while judging debate.

Both also suffer from a problem that affects us all: affordability. Both are somewhat high cost activities to be a part of, both from the competitor/parent side, and from the coach/tournament manager side, although not nearly as expensive as hockey or some other sports.

I intentionally chose not to ref every match. I asked for — and received — several matches off. That’s for my physical and mental sanity. I consider myself one of the lowliest of grassroots soccer referees, but to be fair, I do watch the US Soccer referee training Zoom sessions! And even with rounds off, I still made my share of mistakes.

I think of the tournaments we attend as soccer parents: there’s typically an entry fee ranging from $50-100 per competitor plus additional costs for hotels, transportation and food. Those factors are also the same for an in-person forensics competition, particularly for programs that have multiple students doing multiple entries without the school having a lot of judges…. It’s probably a part of the explanation as to why some forensics programs have had difficulty surviving. I’ll save further discussion of that idea for another post and another time. And those fees don’t count competition clothes (uniforms or dress clothes), fees for being a part of a club, etc.

I get it. Both activities have started to skew toward upper-middle class families. Many of the soccer parents I see from various teams (especially in north-central Georgia) seem to be doing just fine — but that’s not true for everyone!^[5]To be fair, I don’t know how many are running up credit cards in an attempt to have a certain look… and there’s always the “keep up with the Joneses,” especially in certain parts of … Continue reading

So how do we solve the problem and provide more access to both activities, each of which can have positive transformative effects on those who participate?

• At soccer tournaments, perhaps we can engage in a kind of barter system. Each team could have several parents who have trained to become a referee. I’ve made the parent argument before on this website. When a team travels to a tournament, require a certain number of “parent referee” slots of reffing. It doesn’t have to be much — even 2 slots of reffing per team would help. There are 33 divisions at the tournament where I was a referee with between 4-6 teams per division. That’s roughly 164 teams ^[6]I’m spitballing here. I’ll update this post if I decide to count every team.. 328 ref slots provided by parents means 25 full-time equivalent refs that would be covered (assuming each ref does between 10-14 matches). It could also provide a cushion in case a ref calls in sick. And there’s a built-in advantage to my plan — the more parents that know the rules, the more they’ll know what’s really offside or a handball.^[7]Not that I heard parents calling for handballs that really aren’t. If you think that means I’m trying to shortchange good refs, read on…
• Give people rounds/matches off — even if they say they want to judge/ref every round. I reffed 10 matches at the tournament I’ve attended. Joshua had 13 matches. Some reffed as many as 14 matches. At NFA Nationals, I once judged 21 rounds. When refs and judges are in every round, they can’t be at their best. By no means am I the ref that runs the most, but I do try my best as an assistant referee. I walked/ran 17.9 miles in 10 matches, which to be honest, seems pretty low as compared to other referees. I was always an assistant referee, never a center ref. I suppose my mileage was about right considering most of my matches were 60 minutes long, not 90, and I had U11-U15 matches. Eight matches of centering soccer could easily get to 25-45 miles during the day. Fellow referees were complaining in the last few matches about being sore and tired, which is part of the reason I make this argument.
• But at the same time refs get rounds off, we should also pay them for having a round off. In forensics, I tried to pay judges at least 50% (and sometimes, I was able to pay 100%) of what they would have earned by judging a round when they had a break. Yes, I know this costs money, but even youngsters need a bit of a break without worrying about being over-tired when it comes to judging/reffing. Most refs would likely do one of two beneficial things: grab something to eat and drink, or go watch another match to observe how other refs ply their craft. Even a mental or physical break could be good when heat indices get into the 90’s and 100’s, as we often see in Georgia.
• Perhaps we need to find more sponsors for each type of tournament in order to make the entry fees less. In soccer, needing 20 less refs (many of who need to be paid to travel 2-4 hours each way to get there, which adds to the costs) could easily save several thousand dollars in expenses. And sponsors in forensics could be used to pay judges more. ^[8]Yes, I’m aware that tournaments are often money makers for forensics teams and soccer teams. I don’t know how to solve that problem, but having sponsors would equal less financial pressure.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers… but I do know that we have to try to do something to bring more people into forensics and soccer. Both are worthwhile activities that should have fewer financial barriers to participation.