By Shane Clausing

officials needed

Local football leagues in need of officials for upcoming season

Jul 4, 2021 | 5:00 AM

Local football leagues say they are in need of officials for the upcoming football season.

The last year and a half has been tough on officials, with the cancelation of the football season across all levels of the sport.

Greg Remple, the Head Referee for the Grande Prairie Football Officials Association says they are hoping to get more people officiating so they can help out around the league.

“In high school, we usually try and put six people on the field and five people in Bantam. With just nine of us, it does make it (scheduling-wise) a little bit tight.

“Any amount of new bodies will be a help, but it will be extremely helpful if we could get five more people we could add to our list,” expressed Remple.

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Remple added that prior to COVID, they ran into scheduling and staffing conflicts because of the lack of officials.

“Depending on people’s work schedules or other commitments, it would put the pressure on us if there happened to be two games on the same day. We would be a little bit short.”

With the Bantam and High School football seasons expected to go ahead as scheduled, Remple tells EverythingGP there are perks of becoming an official.

“Both leagues have to pay us so we are reimbursed for our time. Most officials do between 10 and 20 games per season between bantam and high school.”

Officials will also get trained so they are prepared to take the field in the fall.

“We do provide training. This year we are planning on having two highly rated officials from Calgary come down and put on a two-day clinic for us. It’s either going to be the last weekend of July or the second weekend of August. We also do some local training ourselves with any newcomers.”

Anyone interested in becoming an official is asked to contact Greg at Greg.Remple@gmail.com