Sep 17, 2013 | Ken Jamieson | 4100 views
Game Schedules
We all can say what we want about Referee's but we also know the game can't be played without them and I know myself I would not want do what they do! And its getting more common and less and less people are interested in being Officials. So we are having to adjust our "normal" games and practice schedules to accommodate this shortage.
The group of Minor Hockey Associations surrounding the GTA has the most difficulty with the GTHL and Girls hockey paying Referees much better than we are allowed to compensate OMHA Referees. As a member of York Simcoe Minor Hockey we have tried to get the rates that we have to pay OMHA Officials increased at the OMHA AGM but unfortunately the other member Associations around the province don't have the same issues and competition as we face in this part of Ontario and we continue to lose more and more every year. The cost the OMHA is charging their Officials has also been increasing for their certifications and recertifications but their compensation rate is unchanged so it is a difficult situation all of our surrounding Associations are facing and those that directly border the GTHL are having even more problems than we are.
Needless to say, we are going to end up having some houseleague games during the week (as we already did last year for Midget), we will also have to move some houseleague games to Saturday and practices to Sunday in order to have sufficient referees to cover all of our games and spread them out amongst the smaller group of available officials. We have already had to cancel a Rep game this past Sunday due to this issue, so I just want to make sure people understand the rational for these changes that you might be seeing this year. Thanks for your understanding.