Frustrated

I'm a licensed Grade 8 soccer referee for PVJSL. I first got licensed back in 2006 because no reffs ever showed up to my little brother's games, so I reffed. Since I was always reffing, I figured I may as well get certified and be assigned games and make more money. I got recertified in 2007, but took the 2008 season off because the league owed me money, I was getting irritated with PVJSL, and I couldn't take the parents yelling at me, who didn't even know the game, any longer. I heard that referee pay had been bumped up from $16/game for the youngest age group to $24/game in 2009, so I took the Grade 9 to Grade 8 bridge recertification course.

At the beginning of the season, I was being assigned 2-3 games/day, 3-4 times/week. I was making the good money. Then Lou, President of PVJSL, started assigning me to the older games, like U12, U13. I didn't really mind at first. But then I was being assigned fewer and fewer games. I guess the more you accept the older games, the less you get assigned games, period. And you shouldn't cross Lou's authority, either. I've heard stories that a referee emailed Lou, saying she didn't like one of Lou's ideas. She didn't get assigned to referee any games the rest of the season! My dad is also a Grade 8 PVJSL soccer referee. He turned down 3 games one day a few weeks ago, and went from getting assigned a few games a week to maybe only a single game every few weeks.

Refereeing is one of my 3 current jobs. I am also a tutor at Pathfinder Regional High School, but I only get paid $30/week, for an hour on Tuesday and an hour on Thursday. Plus, this Thursday is the last day for tutoring for the rest of the school year. I manage palmersoccer.org, too. That pays $25/month. Coaching a Palmer Soccer team and being a Tech Teen at the Palmer Public Library is just extra volunteer work, so I need the money I get from reffing to pay for groceries each week!

Lou hasn't assigned me any games in a while. At the beginning of the season, I told him that I could not referee on Saturdays because I coach on Saturdays. This Saturday I have to coach a game at 11:00am in Palmer. I just recieved an email from PVJSL, requesting that I referee games in Ware, beginning at noon. Now, as a licensed referee, I'm required to get to the field a half hour to an hour early to inspect the field's conditions, which means I'd have to be in Ware at 11:00am, the same time that my team is scheduled to play! I can't be in two places at once! And my only source of transportation is my 10-speed, worn-down, Motobecane Mirage road bike! But I can't turn down reffing the games because I NEED the money! And if I turn them down, then I'll be done for the season, reffing! Another reason I have to be at my game is to distribute the candle fundraiser that I just convinced the President of Palmer Soccer to bring to Saturday's game to distribute because I have no car to carry them in! Curses!! What am I supposed to do?!?!

Looks like I'll HAVE to accept the games in Ware on Saturday... Darn you rotten PVJSL! This really frustrates me >_<