We Need YOU for Soccer to Continue!

A Note from Utah Youth Soccer’s President of the Board of Directors

WE NEED YOU FOR SOCCER TO CONTINUE.

We are facing a dire situation that will see more and more soccer games canceled and severely affect the ability to grow, or even play the game.

This problem is the lack of certified referees. 

There is no other way to say it other than we need every one of you to look at your time availability, and please register for a referee certification course and then referee a match.

Some stats:

UYSA has nearly 60,000 members - up from around 50,000 in 2020-2021 - this growth is not sustainable without referees

In 2021 well over 570 matches were canceled due to a lack of available referees 

Nearly 1,500 matches were rescheduled due to referee availability

Our referee ages:

• ·     U15 - 43%

• ·     U16-U18 - 29%

• ·     19-30 - 7%

• ·     31-40 - 3%

• ·     41-50 - 13%

• ·     51-100 - 5%

We lose many of our referees in their early 20s - we desperately need the 19-40 age groups to be much much higher

We have so many young referees that never stay more than a year or two or who never referee a match

Utah's State Referee Committee (SRC) has about 33% referee turnover every year - UYSA is working on this with the SRC

This is not a problem that is unique to Utah. Every other state association in the country and even in other countries deals with too few referees for the growth of the game. But there is something we can do about it together. 

Please if you have questions at all about becoming a referee - contact (utahsdo@gmail.com) Holly Gundred of the State Referee Committee or a member of our office staff who can get you started on your way. 

Thank you,

Brian Smith

President Utah Youth Soccer Association