Forty refs on your list, and still short on Saturday? Here's how to count your roster by level, find the gaps and grow refs into them.
Assignors
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7
min read
It's 9:30 PM on a Thursday, and Saturday looks fine. Every game has a name next to it. You've got 40 refs on your list.
Then you sort that list by what each ref can actually work.
Most of them are great on small-sided games. Only three can center your oldest competitive games without the game getting away from them. And one of those three just texted that he's out of town.
That's the gap most assignors find the hard way. A big roster isn't the same as a deep one.
Here's how to see where yours is thin, and how to fix it before it costs you a Saturday. If you read our post on last-minute openings, think of this as the step before that one. A standby list only works if someone qualified is on it.
Count by level, not in total
The number that matters isn't how many refs you have. It's how many can work each kind of game you schedule.
Grab a sheet of paper or open a spreadsheet. Down the side, list the kinds of games you assign. For example:
Small-sided rec (U8 to U10)
9v9 (U11 to U12)
11v11 rec
11v11 competitive or club
High school age and adult
Across the top, add the positions: center and assistant. Add single official if your league uses them.
Now put each ref in every box they can honestly work. Not every box they'd like to work. The ones you'd feel good sending them to on a hard day, with a loud sideline.
Find your thin spots
Pull up your busiest weekend of the season. For each row, write two numbers side by side:
How many slots you need to fill at your busiest time
How many refs can fill them
If those two numbers are close, that row isn't covered. It's one cold or one family trip away from a scramble. I'd want a few more names than slots in every row, because refs get sick, travel and have lives.
A few other things to look for:
Rows that lean on one person. If one ref covers most of your competitive centers, losing them for a month is a crisis.
Time windows. A row can look fine on paper and still be empty at 8:00 AM Saturday, because the refs who can work it also play, coach or work Saturday mornings.
Rows filled by refs you've pushed up early. They count, but mark them. They're still learning that level.
Check that everyone is actually cleared to work
A name on your list only counts if that ref is current.
For U.S. Soccer referees, here's what to check:
A current license. All U.S. Soccer referee grades require annual recertification (CNRA).
Safety requirements. U.S. Soccer requires all licensed match officials to complete the Intro to Safe and Healthy Playing Environments online module. Officials 18 and older must also keep a valid background screening and valid SafeSport training (U.S. Soccer).
Your state's deadlines. These vary. Georgia Soccer, for example, lists early recertification registration from August 1 to October 31, 2026, with the license valid through December 31, 2027 once the requirements are done (Georgia Soccer).
That's why October is a good month for this. A ref who forgets to renew doesn't disappear from your list. They just quietly become someone you can't send.
If you assign school games or other competitions, the rules come from that group, so check with your state association.
ASSIGNOR TIP
Add two columns to your roster: license expiration, and (for refs 18 and older) SafeSport and background screening expiration. Sort by date once a month. It takes five minutes and saves you the "wait, you're not current?" conversation at the field.
Grow refs into the gaps. Don't throw them in.
The thin rows are usually the older, faster games. The tempting fix is to put your newest ref in the middle of one and hope.
That's the one I'd avoid. The NFHS has written about "brand new officials working contests they may not be ready for" just to get games covered. The same piece says most turnover happens with officials "in the one to three year range" (NFHS).
The gap usually gets covered by the ref who isn't ready. Then you lose that ref too.
Here are better ways to move refs up.
Start them on the line
Put a developing ref as an assistant at the level you need, with a strong center. They feel the speed of the game without carrying it.
Move up one step at a time
Go from 9v9 center to 11v11 rec center. Not straight to your top competitive game.
Surround them
A newer center with two experienced assistants is a very different game than a newer center on their own.
Ask how it went
After the game, send the experienced crew a quick text: "How'd they do? Ready for more?" You'll learn more from that than from the score.
Know who wants to go further
Some refs want to climb. U.S. Soccer's Regional Referee level adds more training, a fitness test and match evaluations (U.S. Soccer). Know who on your roster is working toward it, and give them the games that help.
Recruit for the rows you need
When you recruit, recruit for your gaps, not just for more names.
Ask your best refs who they know. Good refs tend to know other people who'd be good at it.
Look at older players and recent grads. The NFHS asks schools directly whether they talk to "current students and recent graduates about the viability of being an official after school ends" (NFHS). Clubs can ask the same question.
Look at adults who still play. Former and adult-league players already know how the older game moves.
Be realistic about timing. A brand-new ref starts in your bottom rows. Recruiting this fall is how you fill your top rows a season or two from now, so start before you need them.
Keep the depth you build
Depth is slow to build and fast to lose.
We covered the basics in the last-minute openings post: pay on time, back refs up on the sideline, and don't lean on the same few people every week. The NFHS lists bad sportsmanship at the top of the reasons officials leave, and late payment among the frustrations (NFHS).
All of that matters even more for the refs in your thin rows. They're the hardest to replace.
A 20-minute roster check
Save this and do it once before each season:
List your game types down the side. Put center and assistant across the top.
Place each ref in every box they can honestly work.
Next to each row, write how many slots you need at your busiest time.
Circle any row where the two numbers are close, or where one person carries the load.
Check license, SafeSport and background dates. Flag anything that expires before or during the season.
For each circled row, name one developing ref and their next step.
Recruit with the circled rows in mind.
None of this is complicated. It just has to happen before the season, not at 6:40 AM on a Saturday.
Where WHISTL fits
A grid like this tells you who can work what. The hard part comes every week after that: getting the right ref on the right game without a long string of emails and texts.
That's the part we built WHISTL for. Assignors in our beta use it to fill games with qualified refs, without the back-and-forth emails. If your grid has a few circled rows right now, it's a good time to try it. It's free for assignors during the beta.
The short version
A long list isn't coverage. Count your refs by level, check who's current, grow refs into the gaps one step at a time, and recruit for the rows you need.
Do it this month, and next season's Saturdays get a lot quieter.
Assignors: WHISTL is in free beta for assignors. Join the beta.
Refs: Want to hear from us first? Join the ref waitlist.
Sources checked (Oct 14, 2026):
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