The Washington State Officials Association (WOA) which is the governing body of the high school football referees recently called a penalty on their own. It seems that several “rogue referees” decided to use pink whistles last Friday night to show their support of breast cancer awareness. I guess there is a dress code for officials and since this was violated without proper procedure, the rogue refs are being disciplined to the tune of a 2-game suspension and loss of playoffs opportunity. This goes on top of the fact that they donated their game pay for Friday to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
The part that was really unbelievable (even though it was all absurd) is the president of the association actually saying the refs were a poor role model for kids because they did this heinous act without proper clearance! Perhaps, this association needs to look at new leadership.
How does this apply to you?
There are rules and then there are rules. Some are enough to drive you crazy. Does your organization have rules that are so stringent that common sense won’t allow to bend when necessary? Are some of these rules even needed? What purpose do they meet?
Organizations and individuals can get so wrapped up into their own rules that they breathe in their own exhaust. Don’t get caught in that predicament. Having sound rules and practices is paramount to success. Enforcing crazy rules and not using common sense can have the reverse effect and cause undue embarrassment and loss of reputation.
It’s never a good time for an “unsportsmanlike conduct” penalty!
© 2010 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved
Dan, the article I read yesterday in the online PI (and a similar one in the Seattle Times) said the WOA had decided NOT to enforce any penalties after all (basically due to a lot of bad press this weekend)- that it was all a “misunderstanding”. It was in the Sports/High Schools section of both websites – check it out & see if I got that right!
Thanks for the update Tony. I guess bad press an outrage still has an effect!