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Good article.
The only thing I question is near the end you say, "The chosen few were well taken care of in this Campbell bonus arrangement. They were all senior guys. When issues arose before our group, they could sway the rank and file with their seniority and thus any vote."
Now, I'm sure not all the 'senior' guys were the best referees, but at least it wasn't a situation where the 'chosen' were simply the guys that Campbell liked best.
I have nothing against unions, but at the end of the day, as fans we want the most senior (generally.. not always.. but generally.. the best) refs doing as many games as possible.
Now, I know the counter argument is that the younger guys won't get as many games in to help get better. I understand that. That said, in pretty much every industry, even those with unions, you have to 'work your way up'. Why should officiating be any different?
At the end of the day, your pay went from 45K to 240K in less than 15 years. Pretty damn good, even for one of the guys on the 'outs'.
***Now if you come back and say that the senior guys weren't generally the best guys, then I'd be worried. But that's a union issue. We all know that when a union takes over any industry, seniority often wins out over merit. At the end of the day, that's the double edged sword of unions in general. Your pay went up massively over 14 years, but you get stuck in a 'seniority over merit' mentality. Unfortunately, in the world of unions, it's very difficult to have it both ways. |
