There was a time when Greg Sandoval wouldn’t have flinched if he ran five football games in seven days.
Sandoval, a football official for 20 years, is one of 24 referees on call to Stephen Aragon, the Football Commissioner for the New Mexico Officials Association in the northeast region. The small number of officials has led Aragon to juggle referee teams and football plans from college to middle school to cast games in a region that stretches from Santa Fe to Tierra Amarilla and from Clayton to Santa Rosa. For some officials, traveling to a game in Tierra Amarilla, Raton or Clayton can mean spending nine hours of their day in office.
And it means Sandoval and his counterparts are overwhelmed by the workload they take on to ensure the football season continues without the hiccups.
“It’s tough on our bodies,” said Sandoval. “I know that older officials take longer to recover from a game.”
There is no rest for the tired. Two weeks ago, Sandoval ran three varsity games, a junior varsity match, and a middle school competition in a week, but even “easy” weeks mean he’s on the field four days a week.
Aragon said the shortage of civil servants was not new in New Mexico as the number of civil servants had declined over the past decade. However, with so few officials to choose from and 18 high school teams to coordinate with, Aragon and the school officials had to make difficult decisions.
Aragon shortened the reigning crews from the traditional six-man groups to five- and four-man teams. In the past, newer officials had a hard time playing middle school and junior games, but that has changed significantly in the past five years. They often find each other directing college games in their first or second year.
Even then, Aragon cannot occupy every Friday night game, so he had to postpone the games to make sure the officials were available.
In week 3, three games were postponed to either Thursday or Saturday. West Las Vegas has postponed three of its five games this season to Thursday to ease Aragon’s scheduling crisis.
Richard Tripp, the sports director of West Las Vegas, said it was his duty to help officials as best he could for the good of the athletes. However, he added that Thursday night crowds are lower, even among the student body.
“I mean what are you going to do?” said Tripp. “We want to be as helpful as possible. You don’t want to be the school that says, ‘We only play Friday nights or whatever.’ ”
Aragon said the cause of the shortage was a combination of factors. Being a prep officer requires individuals to take time off work, sometimes traveling up to three hours to an event, and Aragon said the $ 70 fee for varsity games (the fee is $ 50 for subvarsity and $ 40 for middle school competitions) isn’t attractive to some people. Then there is the travel aspect as officials get 40.5 cents per mile from their official hometown to a game in their area. Most often, officials carpool for games outside of town. They also get $ 10-15 for meals per day, depending on the distance traveled.
Added to this are the cost of equipping the officials (game-specific outfit, whistle, and notebook cost more than $ 150) and a registration fee to become an official. It makes office costs prohibitive. Then there are coaches and fans who often see the officials as enemies as much as the opposing team, and Aragon said younger people who are interested in office don’t want to put up with the trouble.
“What we do needs a special personality,” said Aragon. “My hat is for those out there right now.”
The composition of officials in the northeast region is skewed towards an older group in their 40s and 50s, Aragon said, with no younger people to fill the void when older officials retire. Aragon is also one of a handful of soccer referees to practice other sports this fall, as he and Gerald Baca direct soccer games in the Las Vegas area.
Sandoval said the current group of officials was on the verge of burnout due to the burden they carry. Sandoval was able to take time off this weekend but knows that the rest of the season will be filled with four to five games a week.
“I wonder if I still want to do that [after this season]”Said Sandoval. “I think, ‘Can my body survive this?’ I want to be able to run and play with my grandchildren. At the pace I am driving, my tires will be bare. The more you do, the more likely you are to have a hip replacement [surgery] or knee replacement or your shoulders. “
The hard part, say Sandoval and Aragon, is that the workload affects their ability to officiate well in their third, fourth, or fifth game in a week. In addition, there is the responsibility that some referees have to help new officials. Sandoval is a group leader, and he sometimes goes to games to review and criticize newer officials.
This year some of the critiques and reviews come while he’s in the field with a new member, which can be difficult to balance.
“That’s because we don’t have the numbers and we take everything we can get,” said Sandoval. “We’re pulling them in [varsity games] and that’s not fair to them when they work hard out there but make mistakes. We can’t really correct them because we are also trying to do our job. That is the situation we are in right now. “
Most of the coaches understand the current situation. Capital head coach Joaquin Garcia, a former basketball referee, said he appreciated the hard work of football officials.
Capital was one of the teams affected by the week 3 schedule changes. The game against Moriarty has been postponed from Friday evening to Saturday morning. He said having an extra day of practice would be beneficial, but he can’t imagine how coaches playing on Thursday deal with missing a day of practice.
“It’s a shame we don’t have more officials,” said Garcia. “I know they’re trying to recruit, but it’s harder to attract the younger generation because it’s not an easy job. You don’t want to make mistakes and be yelled at. “
Aragon said he was advocating an improved pay scale to make it more attractive to interested people. He also helps new officials offset equipment costs by providing them with used equipment.
“I think we need to be creative with the fee schedule to encourage individuals to come out,” said Aragon. “We don’t make a profit out of it, but that’s why we don’t do it. I make enough to take the kids with me and do something on the weekend or put it away for a family vacation. “
Sandoval said the New Mexico Activities Association and New Mexico Officials Association should try to work harder on college student recruitment in order to build a younger pipeline of officials who will stay nearby.
It would ease the pressure experienced officials feel, Sandoval said, and it would give the older group a chance to help newer officials learn the ropes and, on a more practical matter, climb the ladder.
He remembers that in his fourth or fifth year as an official, he ran his first university game.
“Even if we get one of our two officials out every year, that’s a big plus for us,” said Sandoval.
In this not-so-perfect world, Sandoval is not needed four or five times a week and can pass on his knowledge to keep the supply chain of good civil servants running.
He can also give his tired body a break – a much needed one at that.
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