A plea for sports officials in San Mateo County

Parfet’s pleas were met with plenty of applause, but little in the way of helping fill officiating jobs. That’s precisely the issue, is the shortage of game officials is having an impact on scheduling every amateur sport — football, soccer, baseball, softball, you name it — the lack of referees and umpires has officiating organizations in dire straits.

“I get a lot of applause, which is a nice gesture, not that I want that,” Parfet said. “I would rather have people come join us and come pick whatever sport they want. … Every sport is hurting for officials. And that’s really what it is, it’s a plea.”

Parfet has been officiating in the Bay Area for over 20 years. He started in the early 2000s when his children began playing Little League baseball and AYSO soccer. He’s since branched out to softball and football. He officiates for all four sports at the high school level, making $75-$80 per game for two to three hours work.

During the summer, Parfet is a familiar face among umpiring crews at Little League baseball games and is one a handful of umpires that works the Little League All-Stars tournaments on a volunteer basis, a labor of love that sees he and fellow SVSOA volunteers Craig Gruber and Ed Walters work as many as four games per day.

It used to be all Little League All-Stars games were officiated on a volunteer basis, but that has changed in recent years. To fill umpiring assignments, many of the games outside the District 52 12-year-old tournament are employing paid officials.

“It changed this year because of a complete shortage of umpires,” Parfet said. “We just didn’t have people. We were out. So, we had to pay these youth umpires to come out on the field with us. … If we had the bodies, we never would have to pay people. But we don’t.”

Parfet began making his now commonplace in-game appeals during the high school soccer season. That’s where the applause started and followed him through his work during the high school softball season, and most recently the well-attended District 52 and Section 3 Little League All-Stars tournaments.

For his efforts, Parfet can count on one hand the number of people who have volunteered to join the SVSOA — two.

That’s all. And it isn’t nearly enough.

“I would say I’ve got two people out of maybe 20 requests,” Parfet said. “I thought I’d have potentially more requests.”

The shortage of officials has already impacted the scheduling for the upcoming 2022 high school varsity football season. Six varsity football games have been moved to Thursdays — including games Sept. 29 for Aragon, Burlingame, Mills and Sequoia — because there aren’t enough officials to accommodate an entire slate of Friday games.

The schedule shakeup has been a possibility for years, but this is the first season the Central Coast Section will implement regular Thursday varsity games as a result.

“In the early 2000s, there was a concern,” Parfet said. “But we didn’t have a shortage like we do today.”

Parfet started officiating in the early 2000s to fulfill parental participation requirements in his hometown of Pacifica. But after his children aged out of youth sports, he stuck with it as officiating became his fitness program.

“I just continued on because, I look at it, it’s my exercise program,” Parfet said. “I can’t go run the streets of San Mateo County. I need something to think about more … and what better way to do it than to officiate … high school kids in San Mateo County.”

For those interested in officiating, it doesn’t matter the sport, there is a place for you, Parfet said.

“Contact us if they’re interested no matter what sport, it doesn’t have to be a sport we do,” Parfet said. “If they ask, we’ll get them to the right place.”

If you’d like more information on sports officiating or are interested in applying, go to SVSOA.org for details.