Today’s interviewee is James Arnold, the assigner for the Etowah Valley Football Officials Association in Cartersville. Arnold also is the GHSA appointee for officials training, camps and clinic certification.
James Arnold, Etowah Valley Football Officials Association assigner
1. There have been several games rescheduled this season, some that led to a scramble to find officials. Has that occurred any more frequently this season? And what are the causes? “The problems have been with canceling games this year – and I understand why they are canceled – not really a shortage of officials on Friday for us. I’ve had crews sitting at home just about every Friday due to games being canceled. We try to find other games in the area if their game is canceled early enough in the week, but games that are canceled late, they end up sitting out. Then we ran into everyone wants to make the games up on another Friday that is already heavy, so the makeup games have been getting moved to another day. The shortage has been on Thursday for JV games. We have had to move a lot of JV games, and this has been a problem for a number of years. Everyone has a JV team and a ninth-grade team, plus middle school games, and they all play home and away on Thursday. So you have twice as many games on Thursdays or three times as many sometimes. A lot of people cannot get off work and be at game at 4-4:30 or 5-5:30. Do we have a shortage of officials? Yes. Why? Many reasons. The main one is time – the time it takes to be a good official. Most people do not have the time.”
2. In preseason, there was understandable concern among many officials about working games in a pandemic. Do you feel those concerns have abated? How are things going as far as keeping officials safe this season? “I told everyone during the offseason – if you don’t feel comfortable officiating, don’t do it this year. So, I can speak only for us [the EVFOA]. We had three people decide to sit. One came back to work varsity games. I feel it’s as safe as going to work or going out to eat. You can wear all the protective measures you want to. Plus, the schools have been doing a great job working with the crews in providing a safe and disinfected place to dress and hold a meeting. Also some have arrived [to games] later and gone right to the field, having completed their pregames the day before on a Zoom meeting or in the cars. Each crew can take whatever steps they want to do to feel safe.”
3. Has your association had anyone test positive during the season? “Yes – one hospitalization, and one was asymptomatic. Both had contact tracing, and it was outside of football. Both officials were in the danger target zone with age and a preexisting condition. The latter is back fine, negative tested, and working games. The official that had the hospitalization got ill on the way to a game, but with the protocols in place he was driving alone and turned around and went home. He spent over a week in the hospital and was very ill, but he contacted this outside of football and he will tell you he would have gotten it anyway, football or no football.”
4. What can the GHSA and local schools do the rest of this season to make your jobs easier? “I don’t know of anything they can do. COVID is a day-to-day, hour-to-hour thing that is making everyone miserable. I hope and pray everyone stays safe.”
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