With one week to go before the start of the high school football season, the Louisiana High School Athletic Association is once again battling a referee shortage. That's forcing some high school teams to abandon the Friday night lights and play on odd days.
"So if you look at the population of the New Orleans area--Jefferson Parish, Orleans, and the Northshore--it's only 160 people officiating high school football. That's really low," Eddie Allemore, the regional officials coordinator for the New Orleans Football Officials Association, said.
Of those officials, only 130 are actual on-field officials. The rest of either rookies who are not yet allowed to officiate varsity games or those who are strictly clock operators. That's forcing Allemore's officials and the schools he covers to be flexible.
"We get schedules in April and May, and we'll look at heavy weeks and ask schools to move," Allemore said. "Pretty much, they're working with us. They'll move to a Thursday or a Saturday, and some schools say, 'No, I want to play on Friday. If we can't cover it, (I'll say) here's a list of neighboring associations."
Allemore says some schools across Louisiana have opted to contract with associations from outside of their region just to keep their games exclusively on Friday nights.
"We've been asked to cover games as far as Lafayette and Monroe on a Friday night because they don't want to play on a Thursday or a Saturday," Allemore said.
While Allemore says he's not had to cancel games yet, he says it is a possibility if more people don't register to officiate. However, Allemore says he believes he'll be able to get through the season without any cancellations.
"If it comes down to, hey, you can't play on a Friday, they'll try to figure something out," Allemore said. "We'll do everything to support these kids that are playing."
Allemore says he is still accepting applications for new officials even though the deadline to register with the state has passed. He says the reason why is simple.
"It keeps the game alive."
If you're interested in becoming an LHSAA football official, contact Allemore at 985-773-2928 or email him at eallemo@gmail.com. You may also register at lhsaa.org/lhsoa and at lhsoa.org.
