High school
ADs to look at
uniting officialsThe proposal faces opposition
from the OIA's football refs
A proposal to place all state high school football officials under one umbrella is scheduled to be reviewed at next month's meeting of the Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association.
The proposal was written by Glenn Young, a teacher at Iolani who was an Oahu Interscholastic Association football official for more than 30 years.
As it stands now, each league across the state contracts its own officiating group to call the games.
If the proposal passes, it would require all high school football officials in the state to become members of the Hawaii High School Football Officials Association, which would fall under the jurisdiction of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association. It would go into effect on Oahu for the fall season and in subsequent years on the neighbor islands.
The plan has already met some resistance. After reviewing the particulars, OIA football officials voted against it in an April meeting by about a two-thirds majority.
Richard Townsend, the OIA football coordinator and Leilehua athletic director, likes the proposal, but he said the league wants its officials to decide for themselves if they accept it or not.
"We've always been in favor of having a state group for all of our sports," Townsend said. "I don't think the OIA officials were fully made aware of what was going to be happening (before they voted)."
Townsend said he thinks some OIA officials fear that they may end up working fewer games.
"But I still think it has a good chance to pass (at HIADA) because I think the athletic directors can see where we're going with this," Townsend said. "And if this thing does go over well, then down the road, maybe we can have a state organization for officials in basketball, baseball, soccer and other sports, too."
The plan calls for establishing standards in many areas, including the number of officials on a crew, philosophy, uniforms, signals, communication with coaches, evaluation, accountability and training.
"We have our own training and the OIA has their own training," said Lloyd Hisaka, the president of the ILH football officials group. He's been a football official in Hawaii for more than 25 years. "It would be so much easier to combine it.
"We could get together and talk about calls --what constitutes a clip or a block in the back --and develop more consistency. I think it would be beneficial in the long run. Ever since I started officiating, I've thought it was funny that there are two groups of officials on Oahu. I just think it's easier operating out of the same book."
OIA football officials commissioner Jim Beavers said he's not against the proposal as a whole, but doesn't like some parts of it.
One of the points he's against is a dress code for officials arriving at games.
"I don't think officials should have to worry about what they should wear before they come to a game," said Beavers, who has been an official in Hawaii for 32 years. "We have a lot of blue-collar guys officiating and they come to the games wearing shorts, T-shirts and slippers before they put their uniform on. Looking neat on the field is what matters along with how one acts and performs on the field."
Beavers didn't like the way the proposal was presented to the OIA. He said it was initially presented to OIA executives instead of the actual football officials group. Subsequently, the football officials were able to hear the proposal and vote on it.
"It catches you off guard," Beavers said. "It was like an end run. Now, they're going to HIADA with it for a second end run.
"I believe in involving people in the process, and I get the feeling they're not involving people in the process. There's something about democracy that's missing here."
Beavers thinks a statewide officials organization could easily become a reality in a few years. But he thinks a better way to do it is to set up steering committees and start implementing new rules at a pace that would be easier for the organizations to handle.
"Let's get it all together before we vote on it," he said.
According to several sources who did not want to be identified, the OIA football officials voted against it because they like the system they have in place and are reluctant to give it up.
Young disagreed with Beavers' end-run assessment. He said the OIA football officials were presented with the proposal in January and didn't vote on it until April.
He also said he was just following correct protocol by going to the OIA executives first instead of going straight to the officials.
Young doesn't think the proposal will change much before being heard by HIADA, but OIA executive secretary Dwight Toyama thinks changes "would have to" be made to appease the OIA football officials' concerns.
Young spent two years evaluating officials statewide, primarily to ensure consistency at the state tournament.
"I found that there are major differences in the way things are done by the five different leagues," Young said. "That's not to say they are doing anything wrong, but there are many different interpretations of the correct way to do things.
"This is not a power play. We just want to improve the game for players, coaches and fans."
Young said he drew up the proposal at the request of HHSAA executive director Keith Amemiya.
Don Botelho, a member of the HIADA executive committee who will take over as the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's executive director on Sunday, is also behind the proposal and is expected to make the presentation to the HIADA general assembly.