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Are referees under-paid?

25th March, 2014
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Jarryd Hayne can pontificate his love for Parramatta, but he's betrayed the club. (AAP Image/Action Photographics,Colin Whelan)
Roar Guru
25th March, 2014
25
17203 Reads

Three Super Rugby referees have been dropped and Jarryd Hayne labelled an NRL referee a “disgrace” in what was just another week for match officials.

It might seem extraordinary then that referees are actually underpaid and one of the reasons why so many problems appear to exist with the quality of refereeing is because the job doesn’t offer a great deal in terms of salary.

Many professional umpires in Australia hold down second jobs and are expected to stay fit and educated in their own time. That’s without mention of the constant public criticism they receive of their performances.

A top NRL referee reportedly earns between $50,000 and $100,000 a season. The average player salary is $200,000 and the minimum wage is $75,000.

Field umpires in the AFL can earn as much as $80,000 a year, while the top-earning goal and boundary umpires can earn up to $40,000. Incremental pay increases however will see the very elite umpires making $160,000 a year by 2016. The average AFL player salary in 2012 was $251,559; the minimum wage is $80,000.

Globally, umpires and referees aren’t exactly killing it either.

In tennis a top umpire can expect to earn £50-£60,000 per annum, but it takes a long time to get there! Most earn around £30,000. On average a line judge can expect to earn £20,000. All up on the WTA and ATP tours there are only about 20 full-time salaried umpires.

The top Premier League football referees are on about £325 per match. Wayne Rooney makes £300,000 a week!

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In English rugby, the premiership match fee for part-time referees is £420, there are only six full-time referees.

In the US the average NBA referee makes $128,000 a year, and the average Major League Baseball umpire makes $141,000 a year. The standard NHL referee earns $139,000 a year, while the average NFL referee makes $149,000 a season. The NFL commissioner makes $12 million annually!

Andrew Zimbalist, a noted sports economist, told USA Today in 2012:

These are extraordinarily skilled people who are doing a job that is very demanding and even a little bit dangerous. The notion that these guys are considered part-time employees rather than people who need to stay in shape year-round and they need to study and learn and be trained about the new rules and regulations and be concerned about illegal hits and player safety, that salary range strikes me as on the low side.

Paul Haagen, professor of sports and contract law at Duke University added: “The veteran officials are worth what they can get paid (based upon) the value they bring to the product and how much competition there is.”

There are 80,000 soccer referees in the United States, only thee made the World Cup. FIFA referees must be older than 25, but are required to retire at 45.

Obviously, veteran and competent referees make more than the average figures illustrated here, but given billion dollar TV rights deals are in place for many sports, including the NRL and AFL in Australia, referees are hardly well-compensated.

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A few questions to end:

  • What is a fair salary for a referee, taking into account the requirements of their job and the market value of what they provide?
  • What incentives, apart from greater financial remuneration, can be introduced by sporting organisations to attract and retain a higher quality of official?
  • Why are the current systems not working? What needs to change?
  • Why do people go into referring in the first place – relative to the average wage the money is good, but only after many years of training, and the income is not long lasting.
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