It hasn’t hit Galesburg High School too much — until now.
A shortage of referees is causing the first home football game of the season for the Galesburg Silver Streaks to be moved to Saturday, September 7th, from the night before.
And new GHS Athletic Director Nick Young tells WGIL’s “Galesburg In Focus” he’s not sure it’s going to stop with that game.
“We’ve only experienced that at football thus far,” said Young. “But, I would anticipate that our other sports would see that. And, I think there’s a lot of things that you might attribute that to.”
Things, Young says, like more referees retiring than starting, and fans and their continued mistreatment of referees at games.
Aaron Furrow, president of the Galesburg High School Athletic Booster Club, refereed for 20 years before stepping back.
“If you look at the guys and gals (that are referees), they are ‘olding,’ and the funny thing about it is the kids never age,” said Furrow. “They are always juniors and seniors, and we continue to age and we’re trying to keep up with them.”
Furrow agrees that retiring refs, and fan treatment of refs, may be to blame, but pay may be another factor, which doesn’t necessarily increase at a time when it may cost refs more to travel to games. He says he may get back into it once his kids get out of high school.
Young says if it were up to him, he’d keep varsity football games on Friday nights, but in this case, the move to Saturday can’t be helped.
The varsity football game with Limestone will be played at 1 p.m. Saturday, September 7, after the Freshman game, slated for 11 a.m.
Hear more from Young and Furrow on that and other topics on “Galesburg In Focus” Saturday, August 24, at 8:15am on 93.7 FM and 1400 AM WGIL, posted on WGIL.com after broadcast.
