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    <h1>Princeton Boys Soccer</h1>
    <h3>By JT Federle</h3>
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      <h2>Catch all of the latest news for your Vikings soccer team</h2>
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    <p><span class="first-character sc"></span>he Princeton Vikings led by captains Ryan Minnich (Senior), Spencer Snider (Juinor) and Mario Ruiz (Juinor) can perhaps be considered one of the youngest teams put on the pitch in Princeton history. Last year's squad featured more than 15 seinors </p>
    
    <p class="margin-top-10">Madison grew up playing soccer in the local Chicago park leagues. By age 13, Madison had developed into one of the top players in the area. Her coach, who was also her dad, implemented a special rule for her to make the games fair. </p>
    <p>“It was a 3 goal rule. Once I scored three goals, I couldn’t score anymore so that other girls on the team could score,” Madison said.</p>

<p>In 1998, her talent and sportsmanship caught the eye of a male referee who approached her and her dad after a game. The referee wanted to know if Madison would be interested in becoming a referee.</p> 

      <p>Madison jumped at the chance. Soon after, she began officiating soccer matches.</p> 

<p>As Madison began trying to climb the rungs of the Illinois soccer referee ladder, she found herself in a world governed by men. A world where sexism, discrimination and intimidation ran rampant, preventing women from advancing and officiating high-profile men’s soccer games. A world that didn’t have a place for female officials. </p>

<p>After being in that world for 15 years, Madison finally quit.</p> 

<p>“I married two years ago. I want to have a family. [Officiating] isn’t the most important thing anymore,” said Madison, now 31. “I got tired of going to events to suck up to men.” </p>

<p>Women officials have struggled to break into officiating men’s game across all sports. Neither MLB nor the NHL has any female officials. The NFL has one, and the MLS and NBA has two, despite the fact that the qualities that make a good referee - knowledge of the game, a good eye, and the ability to perform under pressure - are not gender specific.</p> 

<p>Men’s soccer is a logical sport for women to officiate, as it differs minimally from the women’s game. But for women officials to reach the MLS or World Cup level, they must have to opportunities to develop at lower levels. </p>

<p>According to Madison, they are not getting those opportunities in Illinois, and the structure of soccer officiating could be to blame.
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    <h2>ONly 6 women in Illinois Are At A Level To Officiate A High School Soccer State Championship</h2>
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    <p><span class="first-character ny">I</span>ndividuals become soccer officials by passing a United States Soccer Federation (USSF) referee training course. Once they pass the course, they are grade eight referees. There are eight referee grades, with eight (can officiate youth recreation league games) being the lowest and one (can officiate World Cup and international matches) being the highest. </p> 

<p>Referees move up to higher levels by succeeding performance evaluations, passing fitness tests and officiating top-level games, such as club and high school soccer state championships</p>
 
<p>Each state has a referee governing body that administers the evaluations and fitness tests and assigns officials to games. The governing body in Illinois is the Illinois Soccer Referee Committee (ISRC).</p>

<p>The ISRC is where the problem starts for females trying to officiate high-level men’s games,  according to Madison. </p>

<p>Its board of directors is 90 percent men, most of whom are from other countries. </p> 

<p>“A good majority of men who make decisions on our futures are foreign. They don’t look favorably on women refereeing the men’s game,” Madison said. “They still think we should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.”</p>

<p>The ISRC has 117 game assignors who select the officials for soccer games. Only 24 are women, and only two of those 24 can assign games higher than youth recreation leagues. No women are able to assign adult league or tournaments games.</p>

<p>With so few women in charge of assigning referees in Illinois, it’s no surprise that women rarely receive the opportunity to officiate high-level games. </p>

<p>“I think that some of the assignors are biased and think that a woman can’t handle it, which is obviously not true,” said Gigi Chambers, 47, who is one of the two women able to assign youth club tournaments. </p>

<p>The ISRC did not respond to multiple requests for an interview. </p>
    
    <p class="margin-top-10">Steve Siomos, 63, from Greece, is the only assignor that can assign any level of game in the state. Madison described Siomos as having a “monopoly” on the high-level matches in Illinois. An unnamed female referee accused Siomos of “hating” women. </p>

    <p>Siomos refuted those claims. </p>

<p>“I would love to have more women on my referee roster,” Siomos said. “If a female needs games in the state, she should contact me. I will give her the games.” 
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    <h2>Female Officials Are Told To Lose Weight and To Keep Make Up Subtle</h2>
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    <p><span class="first-character atw">W</span>omen aren’t getting the games, though.</p>
    
    <p>Since 1997 no woman has officiated an Illinois high school boys or girls soccer state championship at any level. That is a total of 78 games and nearly 315 referees. </p>

<p>The Illinois High School Association (IHSA), the group tasked with overseeing interscholastic sport competition in the state, didn’t return requests for comment. </p>

<p>When women aren’t assigned to top-tier games, they can’t advance due to lack of experience. This leads to a smaller pool of women to choose from when assigning top-tier matches, meaning men continue being assigned. </p>

<p>“If you don’t have strong assignors that buy into the concept that a ref, is a ref, is a ref, then it gets harder and the numbers dwindle,” said Professional Referee Organization (PRO) Women’s Referee Manger Sandra Serafini.</p> 

<p>The dwindling numbers are reflected in Illinois high school soccer officiating. According to the IHSA, of the 1,211 officials who are able to referee high school games, only 54, or 4.5 percent, are women. Only 6 of those 54 qualify to officiate a state championship. </p>

<p>“I find it surprising a bit," Serafini said. "It seems odd to me that there is no one qualified, but we don’t have any control over that.” 
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      <h2>No Female Has Officiated A High School Soccer State Championship Since 1997</h2>
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    <p><span class="first-character sc">P</span>RO is responsible for assigning referees to professional men’s and women’s leagues in the U.S. such as the MLS and NWLS. It is not associated with the ISRC.</p>
    
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Through her position at PRO, Serafini has discovered that women in all states, not just Illinois, have difficulty being assigned quality games.

<p>“If girls want to move up they may have to look to try to get the games they need in other states,” said Serafini. This is something few men have to do. 

<p>Female referees face other obstacles as well when trying to advance in men’s soccer. The fitness tests male and female refs are must pass to advance take into account referees physical abilities. And in Illinois, according to Madison, the tests also consider how fit a referee appears.</p>

<p>“[Assessors and assignors] want you to look a certain part. You have to look fit and trim and have to look presentable,” Madison said. </p>

<p>Currently, referee uniforms are made for men. Women have to wear jerseys that are often baggy, making them look unfit. Female refs have their uniforms tailored so they fit tighter, but the ISRC doesn’t pay for the alterations.</p> 

<p>“My daughter is an official and we have had to tailor all her shirts,” Chambers said. “The shirts aren’t tailored for women so we have to work with what we have.” 

<p>Serafini, who is a former FIFA official, tailored her uniforms, but stated it was her choice. 

<p>“Forty-five dollars for the shirt and another $45 to tailor it to fit me correctly,” said Serafini. “It’s the cost of business, but it’s not something that’s going to cost [girls] games.” 

<p>That may not seem like much, but Madison pointed out that most refs have up to ten shirts, so the costs add up. Contrary to Serafini’s point of view, Madison said she thinks a woman not tailoring her shirts could be detrimental, especially in Illinois. 

<p>“If a female has a big chest, the jersey will be baggy around her midsection and she might not get the games she needs,” said Madison, who also said female officials in Illinois are told to lose weight and to keep their makeup subtle. 

<p>State Director of Assessments Elie Ghawi, the lone woman on the ISRC board of directors, declined to comment. Siomos denied that women officials are told to lose weight. 

<p>“No, [they aren’t told to lose weight] because none of them are overweight,” said Siomos. “Well, maybe they are at the lower levels.” 

<p>Female officials also face scrutiny from male coaches, players and officials.</p>
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      <h2>Female Refs Often Have To Go Out Of State To Get The Games They Need To Advance</h2>
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    <p><span class="first-character sc">M</span>adison recalls male players and coaches looking “dog-eyed” and “shocked” when she showed up to ref their games. Male officials on her crew have routinely forced her to work the sideline despite her being assigned as the head official.</p>
    
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 “I’ve had people tell me ‘you wouldn’t have made that call if you were a guy,'” Madison said. She added that players and coaches often test her more than they would a male referee and think they can get away with more because she is a woman. 

<p>Randy Vogt, author of “Preventive Officiating” and columnist for Soccer America, agrees that men treat female officials differently. 

<p>“Coaches will often look to intimidate a female official when they wouldn’t do the same with a man because they think the women is easily intimidated,” said Vogt, who has officiated more than 9,000 games across the country since becoming an official in 1978. 

<p>It can’t be denied though that women officials aren’t getting as many opportunities as men simply because there are far more male officials. 

<p>“There isn't something specific that prohibits women from officiating men's games, it's a numbers and logistics issue,” said former referee and Northwestern University soccer player Jen Mayfield. “That's the root of the problem.” 

<p>According to Siomos, Chicago alone has roughly 200 men’s soccer games each weekend. That amount of games will require nearly 800 referees. With that many positions to fill, assignors often have no choice but to assign men.

<p>“You can go to any referee association across the United States and I would be surprised if 15 percent of officials in any organization were women. Mostly its 10 percent or less,” Vogt said. “Every association I have worked with has only a couple female officials.”

<p>The low number of women soccer officials is concerning, especially considering that soccer is one of America’s most popular youth sports with terrific female participation. 

<p>There are 3 million soccer players ages 5-19 registered with U.S. Youth Soccer, and nearly 50 percent are female. 

<p>Female player participation does not correlate to a high number of female officials though. And while finding women officials is difficult, retaining them is even harder. 

<p>Veronica Tannenbaum, 16, from Chicago, went through referee training, officiated two games, and then quit. 

<p>“I know that I'd rather be the one following the rules than making them because one bad call and you have a bad name for the rest of the game,” Tannenbaum said. 

<p>A lot of females will start officiating but won’t pursue it if they can’t advance with their friends according to Serafini, who says the highest number of female officials is found at the entry level.

<p>“Women run in packs and it’s sometimes easier to recruit them in groups rather than individuals,” Serafini said. 

<p>Vogt blames the lack of facilities at soccer complexes for driving away females. 

<p>“Many fields don’t have bathrooms. Men get creative and use the bushes. It’s not as easy for a woman to do that,” Vogt said, adding that the lack of restrooms can force women to officiate without drinking water, which can be dangerous. 

<p>Serafini first noticed the inequality among male and female soccer officials when the NWSL was formed in 2001.  

<p>“When the women’s professional league came around in 2001, a lot of the women got tied to that league and we saw a big drop of women in men’s professional leagues,” Serafini said. “The mindset became ‘we don’t see any women in the men’s league anymore so we are going to kind of save those opportunities for the guys.'”

<p>Part of Serafini’s job is to identify up-and-coming female officials in the U.S. at the state level. Once a referee has been identified, Serafini and her team alert state assignors, telling them that PRO expects the referee to be assigned certain games. 

<p>Serafini said this holds states accountable and helps ensure women get opportunities. 

<p>“It’s a combination of rattling some cages and networking, but our pool of who we can pick from is definitely growing, so, [I’m] pleased with that, but it’s taken 5-6 years,” Serafini said.

<p>Madison and female officials across the state are hoping that Serafini rattles some cages in Illinois and that women start receiving the same opportunities as men to officiate the beautiful game. Siomos agrees.

<p>“Soccer is one of the best sports in the world,” Siomos said. “There is no room for corruption.” </p>
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      <h2>No Female Refs Were Part Of The men's 2014 fifa world cup</h2>
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