Friday Night Lights: It can't happen without them

When it comes to a football game, most fans and observers are focused on the players and the coaches, the people most likely to impact and determine the outcome of the game.

But in addition to the players and the coaches, who get most of the attention and rightfully so, there is another important human component to high school football, and any sport really, and that's officials.

Of course, officials, regardless of the sport, will always be underappreciated. They make an easy target for fans, but they know that going in. While their jobs may be thankless, it doesn't mean it's not important. In fact, without officials, there wouldn't be football on Friday nights or Saturday afternoons and, according to Havre's Dave Peterson, the coordinator for the Havre football pool of officials and a long-time official himself, that day could be coming a lot sooner than you think.

"Absolutely, if you don't have officials than you can't play the games," Peterson said. "For football right now, we aren't in bad shape. We have 19 guys, but with everyone wanting to play on Friday nights, we sometimes have to get officials out of the Malta pool. I have had to do that three times this year."

While Peterson said that the area is on solid ground for officials, at least the short term, as more experienced officials retire, Peterson said he is worried there aren't enough young officials to replace them.

"I have been doing it for 30 years," Peterson said. "And we have some others that have been doing it for 25 years and 20 years. So eventually we need to get some younger guys to replace those veterans, and that's what we are having a hard time with right now. We are running out of officials and we need some of these younger guys to step up."

Yet Peterson said he has been able to recruit some new football officials over the past couple of years and he hopes that will continue. In the past, he said, some of the steps it took to become an official made it hard to recruit people. But now, it's easier than ever before.

"You have to be MOA certified," Peterson said. "So you have to go take the test, you have to have concussion training and you have to belong to a pool. That's where some of it gets to be a stickler because some people don't want to spend the time, taking the test. But it is pretty simple anymore. It's all online. When I did it, it was given at a certain time and you had to go take it. Now, anytime from Aug. 28 to Sept. 15, you can go and take the test. They have really made it easier for people to become an official."

Obviously, being an official isn't for everyone. Peterson even said that he was reluctant to do football, but once he started, he found he really enjoyed it.

"For me, it's always been about the kids," Peterson said. "You aren't going to make a lot of money, but it's not like you are losing money. For younger kids, it would be great spending money for them. But it's about the kids and learning about the game. It's a great place to be part of the game. You are involved in the game - I like that - and I really like the camaraderie with all the guys within our pool. A lot of these guys I don't see until football season, so it's kind of a friendship that you build and that's been a big thing."

Peterson did say some of the negative attention officials garner could be another reason some choose to avoid it, but he said, at least in football, there is some distance between you and the fans, unlike in basketball, which has an even harder time attracting refs according to Peterson.

"You do get people that will come up to you and tell you that they think you messed up or did a bad job," Peterson said. "Or you will see something on Facebook about the officiating. But at least in football, you have some distance. They aren't right on top of you. It's too easy to say something without looking at someone in the face, so you do get that a lot."

Despite some of the downsides, after 30 years Peterson has certainly fallen in love with being an official, but with fewer and fewer following in his footsteps, he hopes others will take the same chance he did three decades ago.

"At first, I didn't want to do it either," Peterson said, "but I enjoy the game and I think if we could get some younger guys out there, they would enjoy it, too. It's really about the kids. That's the only reason you become an official, and I try to tell people, if we aren't there, the kids don't get to play, and that's the truth and that is what it's really coming down to."