Jules Xavier

Shilo Stag

Since arriving in Manitoba in June 2012, I’ve often be asked why I officiate four different sports.

It’s about giving back to a community I call home.  Yet, being F-bombed by irate fans or overzealous coaches knowingly comes with the territory, no matter what sport one chooses to officiate.

Since I was 16, I have expanded from doing just soccer, to adding hockey, baseball and football to my seasonal officiating schedules. It was only natural soccer would be the first sport I chose to officiate. I liked to run, and soccer was my favourite sport as a teenager at CFB Trenton after I quit playing hockey in the mid-1970s when the games was replicating the behaviour of the bullies wearing Philadelphia Flyers jerseys.

From soccer, I moved on to hockey in my early 30s while working in Timmins, Ont., after a senior official noticed me on the soccer pitch, and approached me to try hockey as he was in dire straits to add adults to his referee roster. I’d played hockey, so knew the game, so why not tackle two sports in two different seasons.

A great mentor, too, with Level 4 official Keith Grenke bringing me along so I was soon doing bantam and midget AAA hockey, where I was on the ice with future NHLers like Steve Sullivan, Marty Turco, Jonathan Cheechoo and Larry Courville.

With my background as a sports reporter/editor/photographer in mainstream media, I spend a lot of time covering sports, too. So, while working in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, the high school assistant football coach, and a gridiron referee, Colin Loov approached me to try officiating football because his aging pool of guys was dying off — literally.

Now in my 40s, I said why not! I understood the game, and I also watch officials while covering games. They are part of the game, too. Unlike soccer, there’s not a lot of running unless you are side judge and must cover swift-moving receivers down the field.

Then, in my 50s while working on Vancouver Island in Comox, BC, I was approached by a senior umpire who was looking to add adults to the minor baseball system because his aging roster was dying off. I played baseball as a kid in Comox when dad was posted to the RCAF Base. I watched the Expos and Blue Jays.

So, having a good mentor in the late Eric Toneff, I quickly moved up the ranks and started doing rep, junior and men’s senior baseball.

And when you are working on Vancouver Island, my officiating schedule was packed — in one weekend, I could be on the ice doing a hockey game; leave and work a four-down US rules or three-down Canadian rules football game; and later that day find myself on a soccer pitch or ball diamond. Or all four in one day thanks to winter not being like you’d experience on the Manitoba prairies or in Northern Ontario.

What about abuse of officials, and dealing with the parental tirades? It’s part of the game of course, so you learn to ignore it by silencing the F-bombs, and focusing on what you are doing whether umping or running a soccer pitch.

Officiating is fun — you are part of the game. Without officials, you don’t have organized sport.

Now in my early 60s, I’m still doing three of my four sports. In 2012, I hung up my soccer referee jersey/shorts because the knees did not allow me to run a 90-minute game anymore. I was not going to be an official who stood on the field administering the Laws of the Game with my whistle. I wanted to be up with the play, and among the players, so I could make the right call.

If I was recruiting officials and asking them to be involved, I would share with them my simple philosophy. Sure you get paid, and there are times you need to block out the F-bombs. But just ignore the negative, and go out and have fun. Sports officials can have fun, too, and you have the best seat in the house alongside the athletes.

Moreover, it’s great to give back to the community you call home. For me, I don’t get involved in with the Lions Club, Shriners or Kiwanis to give back — I offer myself up to be the umpire or referee in my three chosen sports. I might be getting older, and slower, but officiating keeps you young.

And the military needs officials, too, so I’ve done intersection and minor hockey at Gunner Arena and recreation slo-pitch while working at CFB Shilo as the editor of the now defunct 75-year-old Base newspaper.

My knees tell me differently, so I’m not sure how long I’ll be skating a minor hockey game; running a football field chasing a wide receiver to the end zone for a touchdown; or taking foul tips off my body behind home plate on a baseball diamond. For now, I will continue be part of community organized sports until no longer able. Then I’ll enjoy being a spectator, and perhaps mentor those who will replace me one day.