Pandemic leaves Manitoba Soccer Association with referee shortage

With Manitoba's outdoor soccer season underway, the provincial soccer association is feeling a pandemic pinch – there are not enough referees for all the games.

The Manitoba Soccer Association said the province is experiencing a referee shortage.

In a statement, the association said in 2019 it had 120 senior referees and 400 youth referees. It said each year it would lose about 30 per cent of its referees in the youth system, but would be able to recruit the same number of new referees.

"Coming out of the pandemic has not been that easy," Héctor Vergara, the executive director of the association, told CTV News. "The reality though is that during the pandemic, many referees were not active. Many young referees found other things to do in life, moved on from refereeing."

He said over the two years of the pandemic the association was not able to recruit new referees to replace the older referees who left the system.

This year there are only 89 senior referees and 216 youth referees, leaving many games without a referee or having to use an untrained volunteer instead.

"We're doing the best we can with the number of referees that we have," Vergara said, adding the association is booking every available referee and in some cases is double booking the refs to cover two games in a night.

"At the end of the day, we all want the same thing – we all want kids playing, we all want coaches coaching, we want referees refereeing the game and enjoying it."

Vergara said the association is forming a Referee Task Force to find ways to address the shortage both in the short and long term as quickly as possible.

"We encourage people out there to be patient. We know that there's not going to be an overnight solution," he said.