Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com
By Ray Hamill — The H-DNL announced this week that there will be no officials available for freshmen basketball games during the months of November and December.
The Six Rivers Basketball Officials Association notified the league of the shortage on Tuesday.
According to the league, “The association currently has a limited number of officials this year and they are being used for the many JV and varsity tournaments scheduled for the remaining weeks of 2023.”
League commissioner Jack Lakin said the “H-DNL schools are exploring all options for providing a full schedule of freshman games during November and December and working with SRBOA to ensure association officials for January and February.”
The news comes as no surprise considering the ongoing shortage of officials for high school sports all across the nation right now.
“This follows the pattern of fewer officials in all high school sports, both locally and nationally,” the league said in a press release.
The shortage of officials has also recently affected football, soccer, baseball, softball and wrestling.
For the past two local high school football seasons, the H-DNL has been limited to scheduling officials for no more than than three sites on any given day.
H-DNL baseball and softball has featured similar scheduling restrictions, while almost 50 of this year’s league soccer games featured less than the standard three officials.
The Humboldt Del Norte Wrestling Officials Association has also expressed concerns about having only a limited number of officials available for the upcoming season and will need to bring in out-of-area officials for the annual tournaments.
The press release added that the “league appreciates your patience and understanding during this challenging period and also reminds all involved to show a high level of respect and appreciation for those officiating our high school basketball games.”
Anyone interested in becoming a basketball official can email new Six Rivers Basketball Officials Association Assignor Justin Yslas at justinyslas18@gmail.com.
Categories: Arcata, Basketball, Del Norte, Eureka, Ferndale, Fortuna, Hoopa Valley, McKinleyville, South Fork, St. Bernard's
Just to be factually clear and clairvoyant…. IT IS NOT THE FANS OR CROWD SIZES DRIVING SPORTS OFFICIALS AWAY FASTER THAN Eddie Cheever…
…it is the dysfunction of the insiders… it is issues with pay and mileage, parking, lack of punishment by schools for unsporting behavior by student athletes, etc… it is many things that go undiscussed… BUT IT IS NOT THE FANS…
Personally, reffing is supposed to be FUN TOO!
AIN’T NO FUN RUNNING DUAL SYSTEM IN SOCCER.
I won’t ever again ref in a dual system, so if I can’t participate in a 3 ref system, I won’t participate.
The Henchmen’s lack of knowledge just cracks me up. Seems like he must be the best ref ever and never been yelled at? Maybe you should read the most recent memo sent out by NCS SPECIFICALLY mententioning Fan & parent behavior at Winter Sports events. There are many many factors that play into the decline of sport officials. The “insiders” don’t control how one officiates, that is done by the individual themself. Know facts, not just you own believes.