Just last week, the girls’ soccer matchup between St. Marys and Elk County Catholic was postponed due to lack of officials. Varsity football games are being played under Thursday night lights and on Saturday afternoons as District 9 contends with a significantly reduced pool of registered interscholastic officials.

The issue isn’t unique to District 9 or even the commonwealth, although the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) has lost more than 4,000 registered officials during the last 15 years.

Bud Brennen, PIAA District 9 male officials representative and 50-year officiating veteran, said, “If the same trend from the last 15 years — 16,000 down to 12,000 — continues for the next 15 years, I don’t know how they’re going to play interscholastic sports. There just won’t be enough officials.

“Without officials you don’t have high school sports, you have intramurals.”

Brennen cited the June edition of PIAA magazine, “Referee,” which reported those high school sports with the biggest losses since 2008. Football had 2,646 registered officials in 2008 and is down to 2,094 for 2023. Basketball, at 4,980 in 2008, has decreased to 3,947. Baseball has gone from 2,152 to 1,438 and soccer from 1,896 to 1,327.

As for District 9, Brennen said, “We only have 60 football officials and if everybody plays Friday night that can mean 13 games. Most schools want six officials for a well-officiated game, so we just don’t have enough.

“Every sport could use 20 to 25 percent more than what they have,” he continued. “We have 130 basketball officials in the district and could easily use 150 or 160.

“It’s bad, it really is. It’s not just bad in District 9 or in Pennsylvania, it’s all over the nation. That’s what’s scary.”

A PIAA official since 1973, Brennen offered his own theory for the dwindling officiating numbers.

“My philosophy is the three Cs: Crowds, coaches and cash. The crowds can be nasty and that scares people away. There are some really tough coaches just because they’re so competitive. “We lose about a third of new officials in the first three years — they find out they don’t like it, the crowds are bothering them or the coaches, or the cash isn’t worth it. They get fed up with it and quit. There’s a huge dropout rate.”

Brennen said officials are underpaid, citing District 9 volleyball as an example.

“In our district we have 50 volleyball officials. That sounds like a lot but it really isn’t because every school plays volleyball and we have 35 schools,” he said. Further, he explained, District 10 schools like Sheffield and Warren pay $139 per game, while District 9 pays $95. District 4 offers $115, so officials who are located near other districts are opting to officiate those games for more money.

“Schools in our district are going to have to start paying the going rate,” Brennen said.

To combat the issue from the state level, PIAA has implemented some changes to its programs and processes.

District 9 female officials representative Bonnie Wolbert, herself a 40-year officiating veteran and member of the PIAA board of directors, explained the Junior Officials Program, a state initiative to involve young people.

“PIAA now allows students who are 16 and 17 years old to take the test, join a chapter, go to the meetings and if they follow those procedures successfully then they are permitted to officiate seventh- and eighth-grade sports,” Wolbert said. “It gets their foot in the door at an early age and hopefully some of them will continue and test for another sport after graduation.”

Wolbert added the state’s testing and registration process has also been made more accessible, with an online, open-book exam and fewer mandatory meetings per year with options to attend either in person or virtually.

For their part, Brennen said he loves officiating more now than when he started just out of college in 1973, while Wolbert said, “It has so many good moments and I absolutely love it, being with the kids and knowing as many people as I’ve met” through officiating.

Brennen said, “Everything we’re experiencing in Pennsylvania is happening all over the nation and in some states it’s even worse. It doesn’t have to be that way. It’s about the kids, go out and cheer your hearts out for the kids.

“I’ve heard some horrible things parents say to other people, opposing players,” Brennen recalled. “Really, though, 90 percent of the people and coaches are good, it’s a small percentage causing problems.

“People want to say ‘That’s not our problem,’” Brennen said. “Well, yeah, it is. It’s our problem in District 9, District 10, in Pennsylvania and the nation.”

Wolbert echoed Brennen’s sentiments.

“Society is more verbal than it used to be. People now say what they think and that’s sometimes not so good. I don’t know how you change that.

“Don’t relive your high school years, let the kids play,” Wolbert said. “Officials who are spending their time outside of work want to be able to enjoy officiating.

“A lot of times they just have to tune people out; it’s what they have to do. If I could change that, I would,” Wolbert said. “But it’s a different world.”