During Alex Krelo's first season as a high-school soccer referee, he was part of a two-man crew that bossed a tight league game.
The high-spirited affair quickly turned ugly in overtime, however, when Krelo awarded a penalty kick against the visiting team.
The home team calmly converted the ensuing spot kick, and the coach of the losing team and several fans went ballistic.
The coach raced toward Krelo, who was still on the field, and launched a verbal tirade at the first-year referee, which Krelo said included several physical threats.
It didn't end there.
The losing coach followed Krelo to his car and continued to threaten him to the point that Krelo actually feared for his life.
"He was really ready to kill me," he said.
When the coach finally finished, parents from the losing team hurled more threats at Krelo.
Such incidents are one example of why the state arbiter has such a hard time retaining new officials.
Ideally, the Utah High School Activities Association would send three officials — one center referee and two referee's assistants — to every boys prep soccer game. The reality is another matter.
Severe referee shortages will force state arbiter Greg Warner to use two-man refereeing crews in roughly one-fourth of all soccer games this spring.
The so-called referee shortage has left the Utah soccer community to examine why such deficiencies exist and what changes might alleviate the problem.
The conclusions?
The majority of people involved with prep soccer feel that the main cause of the referee shortage is directly tied to poor sportsmanship from coaches and fans. Brand-new officials often suffer through their first season of abuse before deciding that refereeing just isn't worth it.
Awkward game times (most prep soccer games in Utah are played at 3:30 p.m.), mediocre pay and quirky rules used only in high school soccer are other factors often mentioned.
A soccer game officiated by a three-main crew will have one main center referee, who calls fouls, awards yellow and red cards, keeps time, and is the final authority on decisions. Two referee's assistants, or linesmen, round out this system and stand at opposite ends of the field. Their main responsible is to enforce the offside rule, though they can point out other infractions to the center referee.
On the other hand, a two-man system forces the two officials to act as center referee and linesman.
"The referee (in a three-man crew) dictates how much they're going to allow the game to flow," said Park City coach Mike Guetschow. "When you have a two-man system . . . You end up with a game refereed by two standards."
The offside rule, difficult to correctly determine with a three-man crew, becomes even harder to get right.
"It's very hard to call offsides when you're trying to also call fouls," said Guetschow.
Officials, of course, are trained to ignore the sidelines during games, no matter how ridiculous the complaints from coaches and fans get.
That can be an impossible task, however, for first-year officials who are busy learning the nuances of the game. It can eventually drive away young officials.
"It's something that makes you sick to the stomach," Krelo said of the poor sportsmanship. "You're not ready to hear it. They're going to be rude all game . . . They're going to be horrible."
That's why Wasatch coach Dawain Wheatley cringes every time he watches a Wasatch parent or supporter scream and yell at a referee.
Wheatley and his children have all been certified as referees, and the coach says that barking at young referees will only repel them from the profession.
"We've got to allow young referees the time to learn," said Wheatley. "If you scream at them, they're not going to continue."
After his first season of refereeing, which included that penalty-kick game in overtime, Krelo thought long and hard about quitting.
"I had confidence," he said, "but there's a lot to learn."
Eventually, he decided to stick it out. Four years later, Krelo says he's finally starting to earn the respect of coaches and he's able to tune out the sideline.
In an effort to keep complaining at officials to a minimum, Wheatley meets with the parents of his players before each season. In that meeting, the Wasatch coach instructs the parents to come and support the team in every way they can — without saying a word to the officials.
Wheatley said doing something similar statewide could go a long way toward reducing the yelling and screaming that referees endure each afternoon.
There are roughly 100 total officials in the pool for boys soccer. About one-fourth of those officials are center referees, which Warner said isn't nearly enough.
Warner said that he attempts to get three referees for every game, but some of the referees are unable to attend because of conflicts.
During a recent Tuesday that had 19 soccer games, 18 matches were filled by two-man crews.
Then there are the awkward game times.
Most referees, like everyone else, have 9-to-5-type jobs and can't get off work at 2 p.m. to work a soccer game 90 minutes later.
"The time factor is a big issue," said Warner.
That's what has kept Gunther Haienthaller, one of the state's most respected referees, away.
He currently works youth games from the Under-11 level and up and is also the fourth official at Real Salt Lake home matches.
His long pedigree, however, doesn't include any high school experience. Haienthaller said that is mostly due to the 3:30 p.m. kickoffs.
"That's the main reason I've never done any high school refereeing," he said.
Warner said he's been working with the UHSAA to try and change the start times for varsity games by playing the JV game at 3:30 p.m., followed by the senior match afterward.
That idea is problematic, however, when considering that JV games end in darkness before day-light savings and that only a handful of schools regularly play their games on fields with lighting.
The UHSAA considers officials to be "independent contractors" and pay them as such. A center referee pockets $31 for officiating a varsity match, while the referee's assistants are paid $25 apiece. Each of those officials can earn an extra $25 by sticking around for the JV game.
In situations where referees work as a two-man crew, both officials are paid $31 for the varsity match.
That's not too bad for a few hours of work, but hardly enough to entice new referees.
Warner said that the UHSAA is currently considering a proposal to increase the pay for officials in each sport.
Besides the average payout, some say that quirky rules keep certain officials away.
For example, if a player receives two yellow cards in a professional match, the person automatically receives a red card and must miss the next match. Additionally, the team must play one-man down.
At the high school level, however, a player only has to exit the game. The team still plays at full strength and the player isn't suspended.
Haienthaller said that the rules can ruin the flow of a game.
Wheatley has been coaching soccer for almost 20 years and said that the referee shortage has been a problem ever since he began.
Though this year has been particularly bad, coaches are hopeful that the numbers will increase in future seasons.
While Krelo saw the ugliest side of officiating during his first year, he knows that he's remained because of his love for the game.
It's something he says just might be the key to bringing and keeping new officials.
"The enjoyment (of soccer) is the nature of the game," Krelo said. "It's challenging. It's competitive. I encourage former players to referee soccer."
E-mail: drasmussen@desnews.com