someone needs to do an official shortage count! GW and Radford already moved to Thursday because of officials! Does the VHSL supply them or how does that work? Thanks
There are associations throughout the Commonwealth that work in partnership with the VHSL. Richmond, Roanoke, Lynchburg, NOVA, and here it is the Appalachian Football Officials Association. We were short on numbers last year but, seem to be building back a little based on initial numbers. Our association covers GW, but I haven't heard of any moves based on anticipation of us being short again. Of course, to a school, I could see it being slightly more advantageous to have a game on a Thursday night. The fact of the matter is we could always use more officials to help us cover games.
I hated to hear this last night. I truly always enjoyed working his games. I will always vividly remember heading into a stadium to work at a game this past season, and he was parked outside the stadium. He then called us all by name over to his car, and we chatted briefly, wished us a great game, and we were off. It's funny how stuff like that sticks with you in life.
Our crew loves Macadoos whenever we are in a town that has one anymore. I can speak for Wooden Pickle, Bellas(we have all of our pre-season crew meets there), and Bonefire. Although it used to be a chain, we STILL mess with the Bonanza in Lebanon. I'm with Sixcat, find the local spots. We ALWAYS get great food and service there and they are usually more than accommodating to host us for our meetings.. I can microwave food at home, looking at you Applebees and Chilis.
A brawl at Applebee's in Bluefield, VA? It was probably Union and Graham fans getting together and fighting with the Applebee's cooks. Sorry Graham fans, but you have a first class shi*hole for an Applebee's up that way. I'm serious about this, it's the most God awful Applebee's (hands down, by a lot) that I've ever been to.
The thing I love most about this community is NOTHING and I mean NOTHING gets more heated than food conversations. Everyone pulls for their team, and 99% of the time it's extremely respectful. But by god bring up food, buckle up Buttercup....
One of the issues is the assignment of games. It may be different now but they use to have you travel a long ways for games and the pay is not that good. I DO NOT agree with point that in the grand scheme of things it does not matter. Maybe not to all but to some it does matter, It matters alot!!!!! Some of these kids it's the some of the most imoactfuk moments of their lives, some of these kids have horrible home lives and do not have the brightest outlook for their future, and will carry those moments for life. Officials need to remember that, it may not matter to them in the grand scheme but to others it most certainly does!!!
Poor choice of words on my part and definitely taken out of context. What I am referring to is the "holding" calls everyone wants away from the point of attack. The subjective calls that would not affect the outcome of the game whether called or not.
I haven't been to a game in person this season for reasons I am unwilling to go into here. First time in my adult life I haven't been to my kids activities but it is what it is.
What's heard on NFHS is exactly what's heard from the stands. In almost all cases, those spouting nonsense have no idea how vastly different high school football rules are from college and professional. I can't count the number of times I've heard some jackass screaming "that ball's not catchable" after a pass interference penalty. The truth of the matter is, if those armchair officials had to do it for real, many would have a different, and much needed, appreciation for the people who are out there week in and week out. Especially listening to someone scream about holding when his defensive line was getting blown off the ball as badly as I've ever seen.
This x1000. If the average football fan knew half of what they think they know, we would not have a shortage of qualified officials nationwide. Are there missed calls in every game? Absolutely. But, they pay their $6 every week and officiate from the stands WITH bias, that part is important, about things that in the grand scheme of the game DO NOT MATTER.
Some would be absolutely blown away to know there is a whole philosophical side to officiating, even more so about what goes into that process. I'm fine with them blowing up someone over a bad call, or booing because of a perceived miss. That is what it is.
Some fan bases go ENTIRELY too far in picking on officials age, weight, appearance, etc. I have pretty thick skin and I am pretty comfortable with my appearance. Not everyone is though, and I cannot blame some for just leaving altogether. Sure, there is one bad apple in every fan base, however, some fan bases are just AWFUL in what these folks will say to officials.
Sorry for the rant, but it has really went from problem to crisis this season. We have a people problem in this country. Decency is a thing of the past and the lack of will only continue to push others away from a very noble cause and enjoyable avocation.
Crazy that we can't get enough refs for playoffs.....
This is not a new issue. It's been happening all season. The difference is we run 5 man crews through regular season, 7 man crews for playoffs. We had plenty of moves to be able to cover 5 through the week for a lot of these games. The AFOA is aging, and believe it or not, these games do take a lot out of you mentally, and physically. I'm lucky enough to be on the younger end of the bell curve, but I can tell you, I'm tired. It's been an extremely long season full of moves, cancellations, traveling, and skeleton crews. If it takes playing a playoff game on a Thursday to make sure we have enough officials, that is what it is. We are down almost 35% on our roster from fall 2019 to now.
Was at the 1996 Grundy vs Salem game in Tazewell. Grundy outplayed Salem, and I mean really outplayed them, only to lose the game. Many of the younger generation of footballers wouldn't believe how tough Grundy was in the 90's. Had some good teams in the 80's as well with the Perkins brothers playing at different times, but it's incredible to think Grundy in 1996 was actually Div 4, or equal to Class 4 today. Officially, they would have been AA/Div 4 or AA"big". They were a better football team than Salem that year I think, and Grundy may have very well been the best Div 4 team in the state that year, and for sure, left a state title game appearance on the field in the semifinal loss to Salem. Neither team moved the ball well, but from what I recall, Grundy moved it a bit better during the game. Salem always bitc*d like a little child whenever they had to come west in football. There was always going to be a complaint or something.
Those mid-90's Grundy teams were loaded. Dressing over 50 players, many went on to play college ball, and just humongous on the line. Salem did not want to make that bus ride across the mountain and at the time, Grundy had no visitor bleachers. That was the nail in the coffin, not the field conditions, but separate bleachers. The field in Tazewell that day was much much worse than the one in Grundy that week. 25 years have passed and I still remember that day and week like it was last week. I still have a field pass and program from that game somewhere, I need to look for it when the season ends and I actually have free time again.
Appreciate the clarification but you could be a little more respectful about it. Near impossible to see anything on the far side of the field with several players around. To us it looked like a catch hence why I said I would like to see a replay of it
Hence why half the stadium met the crew at the exit, because no one could see and they just made the call for them. Haha
With all due respect, it was not even close to a completion. Ball was overthrown, receiver made a great effort just to get hands on it.
Helluva game tonight. What more could you ask for?? A well officiated game that came down to the last play. Proud of Richlands for taking Tazewells punches in the sound half and giving a few back and holding on at the end. The Creasey kid is as advertised. He’s gonna be a thorn in the regions side if the Dogs have talent around him.
These teams are separated by 3 points in 2021, with both games being barnburners. Glad the rivalry is back.
Good luck to the Dogs the rest of the way.
What if I told you the same crew you thought was atrocious last week was the same crew this week? It’s almost as if the result of the game determines folks opinions on the officiating no matter what calls were or were not made.
Last night at the Richlands game we had this sequence:
Richlands ball on the -35. Pass downfield. Picked off, but they call DPI. DB argues with the official and gets an unsportsmanlike.
Officials place the ball at the +20.
Timeout Ridgeview to argue (and rightfully so, that spot was so wrong it wasn’t even funny).
After timeout, they move the ball alllll the way back to the -40. That’s not right either.
After another discussion, the pick the ball back up and move it alllll the way back up to the +25. That also wasn’t right.
Should have been Richlands ball on the RV 35, not the 25.
Took them like 8 minutes to do all of that — and still get it wrong.
That crew was… atrocious to say the least.
Come on out and join us then Ryan if they were that atrocious. All crews make mistakes, they're human.
That one was a simple miscommunication, since the chain crew and moved the chain clip moved during all of that chaos, no one could get the original spot. And in the midst of all that chaos, no one can recall the play before that. The penalty was assessed from the spot of the foul to begin with, which was wrong. It's dead ball, then proceeding spot on the sequence of fouls called. It genuinely humors me that we HAVE to be life and death perfect under every circumstance. That crew called a pretty good ball game outside of that sequence.
Fact of the matter is, it affected the outcome of the game absolutely zero, Richlands still couldn't score. No one likes us, we get it, but it's comments like those that it glaringly obvious why we have a hard time retaining and recruiting officials. Both calls were there, the assessment got jumbled. To this day, no one has ever officiated a perfect game.
I don’t think it’ll be all that competitive lol. I’d say Abingdon wins by a few scores.
Honestly, I’m considering going to Castlewood @ Rye Cove or Eastside @ Holston lol.
Wife went to school at Holston and we’ve only been to 1 Holston game in the last 6 years. But I've also never been to Rye Cove and that intrigues me just because it’s a new stadium I've never been to.
I had Northwood a few weeks back. They are reallllllllly down on numbers. Barely had enough healthy to start the 2nd half. I'd say Warriors by as much as Coach Robinson wants.
If you want barbecue that’s actually good, wait until Friday and eat at Fisher & Co. Cuz’s hasn’t been worth a stop since the end of the Clinton Administration. People say “it’s too high”, because it absolutely is. People say “it’s not good”, because it’s not anymore. When the food starts coming in on a Cisco truck, that’s when you know they’re mailing it in…
Only a fool goes in Cuz's and orders the BBQ. Show me anywhere else you can get a 32 oz Prime Rib dinner for $40. To each their own I suppose. We go at least once a month and it's till as good aas ever. They do say your taste buds change as you age though so that might be the issue.😆
I’ll be in town a little early tomorrow. Give me a good restaurant…
Just stop at Cuz's in Pounding Mill on the way up. Best food you will find in a 50 mile radius there. Ignore all of the incoming haters that will quote this post by saying "it's too high", "they're rude", "it's not good", etc. I will put my word on it that it is far and away the best stop to eat at on that ride.
until the po po come shut it down. Just kidding. I have no idea if they will allow it or not. City of Bluefield WV owns the stadium, who knows. I thought noise makers were banned this year. I don't care one way or the other if they bring it, as long as they don't blow it during the cadence, if they do, then the officials should shut it down.
No official is going to shut a train horn down, or stop a band from playing. That is completely up to the site administrator and how they want to proceed. We have our hands full enough without worrying about what is going on outside the fence. We may put it in our game report to our supervisor and it may be handled from there moving forward. We've got 22 players, an UBSURD amount of coaches these days to monitor and keep off the field, and 2 time keepers to monitor with only 5 sets of eyes and ears. A train horn is the least of our worries.
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Please Report Numbers here.
in SWVA Football
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There are associations throughout the Commonwealth that work in partnership with the VHSL. Richmond, Roanoke, Lynchburg, NOVA, and here it is the Appalachian Football Officials Association. We were short on numbers last year but, seem to be building back a little based on initial numbers. Our association covers GW, but I haven't heard of any moves based on anticipation of us being short again. Of course, to a school, I could see it being slightly more advantageous to have a game on a Thursday night. The fact of the matter is we could always use more officials to help us cover games.