AYSO settles volunteer referee dispute
By John Loesing
Acorn Staff Writer

Following an uproar from parents and coaches, Region 4 AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) has reversed a controversial decision to ban teams from the playoffs that didn’t meet certain volunteer requirements.

Two dozen angry parents attended last week’s regional board meeting and protested a new league rule specifying that teams failing to provide volunteer referees during the regular season wouldn’t be eligible for the playoffs. Other soccer parents voiced similar complaints.

For years, AYSO has asked volunteer parents to help with the whistle, but unlike team moms, coaches and statisticians, referees must receive formal training for their work. For some, the commitment can be overwhelming.

Following widespread referee shortages last year, the league decided to make the volunteering mandatory. Each team was required to provide enough refs for 12 games (other than their own games), but some of the volunteers missed the required training or said they never knew about the policy in the first place. As a result, 26 of the 138 teams in the Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Westlake Village and Oak Park region were told they couldn’t compete in the playoffs because they didn’t contribute their share of the referees.

"You’re talking 234 kids who have to be explained why they’re not in the playoffs and their classmates are," said Gary Klezek, assistant coach for the "Hustling Hummingbirds."

"My team was in tears."

Was it another case of parent over-reaction?

Hardly, said Marty Goldberg, coach of the Hummingbirds. He accused the AYSO board of wanting to play hardball.

"They knew there were going to be repercussions and I believe they were going to stick by it no matter who got hurt," said Goldberg, whose team went 7-2 in the girls’ under-10 division but were told they couldn’t compete in playoffs. The 9-0 Penguins also got knocked out of the postseason until the late ruling overturned the decision.

"I’m ecstatic," Goldberg said after hearing the news.

Regional 4 Commissioner Marc Glickman made the announcement on the league’s Website.

"Following discussions on Thursday with AYSO national and area representatives, Region 4 has been instructed to allow all teams to participate in this year’s postseason league playoff tournaments," Glickman said.

"The board fully intends to again address the problems associated with low volunteer participation for future seasons, until community involvement meets or exceeds the level required to provide a quality program which is ‘fair, fun and safe.’"

As for the original ruling, the coaches complained they weren’t fully informed about the new policy and that it wasn’t posted on league’s the Website. One man said he volunteered to coach just a week before the season began and that it was impossible to assemble his refs in time. His team was one of those disqualified. Normally every team makes the playoffs.

Goldberg was out of town and missed the late July coaches’ meeting in which the policy was discussed.

While Glickman admitted the Website didn’t go into length about the changes, he said the coaches had their instructions. He originally told AYSO’s Internet readers, "I truly feel sorry for the children in our program who are not going to be able to participate in the postseason this year, but your regional board did not fail them; the adults associated with their team did—by not volunteering."

Glickman said Region 4 didn’t want to repeat its habit of "caving in" on the issues. He said the league tried in the past to enforce good sportsmanship rules for example, but encountered opposition. The board became determined to hold the line on is referee decision.

"The board said this is something we had to do," Glickman told The Acorn. "We have to bite the bullet on it, so somewhere in the May-June time frame, it was decided we were going to try this."

In the end, 80 percent of the teams complied with the referee requirement, which almost doubled last year’s volunteer pool to 150. Having enough referees meant 1,000 additional boys and girls were allowed to compete during the fall season, Glickman said.

Now all of them are in the playoffs.

AYSO officials scrambled to rearrange playoff schedules for the league’s 2,800 players. In the under-10 division, where 11 of 76 teams were disqualified, playoff games won’t begin until this Saturday. The older divisions got underway last weekend.

For up to date playoff information, visit the AYSO Website at www.aysoregion4.org.