The Code of Ethics That Sports Officials Must Follow

Whenever a sporting event takes place it is highly likely that a sports official, also commonly referred to as referee, will be monitoring the game. A sports official is likely to call fouls and determine who the winner of a game is. Sports officials are used in many middle and high school sports, college sports, and professional sports.

Sports officials are extremely important to a large number of sports including football, baseball, basketball, hockey, wrestling, and more. Since sports officials are such as important part of a sports game they need to be dependable and fair. A sports official must be able to rule for or against a team or a player whether he or she likes them or not.

A code of ethics has been established by many agencies that provide officials to particular games. Whether or not a set code of ethics is in place officials are encouraged to follow them. These code of ethics in are place for many reasons, but they are mostly used to keep games fun and fair. A sports official who is found violating the code of ethics may be unable to officiate a game again.

As previously stated sports officials are required to be able to make a call on a particular team or player no matter how they feel about each. The game must be officiated without bias. For this reason many sports officials are not allowed to referee a game if they are personal friends or related to a particular player.

It does not happen a lot; however, it is possible for a sports official to be bribed with money, merchandise, or services. This may happen when players or coaches expect repayment in a big game. Sports officials are prohibited from accepting all forms of gifts no matter if repayment or unfair officiating is expected or not in return.

Different games have different rules and it is not uncommon for one sport to have fifty rules or more. To fairly referee a game sports officials are required to know all of the rules for the game that they are officiating. This may require additional studying or reviews of the rules; however, it is necessarily for them to effectively do their job.

In addition to paying attention to the game, sports officials are required to keep an eye on all of the players and some fans. At any time during a game if a player or team acts inappropriately they can be removed from the sports field. Professional players are subject to fines and suspensions. During many professional games a security team will handle the fans, but many high school fans are controlled and monitored by the sports officials working the game.

Sports officials have a difficult job to do. They have to successfully determine the outcome of a game while using their best judgment. There are many teams and players who become unhappy with a sports official for making a bad call; however, it is hard to imagine exactly where sports would be without them.


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