[edn88]

Being an official is one of the most thankless jobs out there. Full of tough judgement calls that are going to make some one angry, physically risky and not financially rewarding.

I used to officiate when I was younger (for the $20 per game I used to make while getting excercise), but once I started making money it was hard to justify reffing when I was being verbally abused and having my windows in my truck smashed.

I think if you want to improve the level of officials, you need to do two things

1. pay them more
2. come up with a system of statistically monitoring their performance and perhaps have a publish system of reward to show how well they are doing - an maybe a big bonus to those that actually peform.