Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s announcement requiring all K-12 school employees and volunteers to be vaccinated will produce a ripple effect on high school sports throughout the state.

The vaccination requirement goes beyond employees and volunteers directly associated with schools. The requirement also extends to those who work with students, which includes referees and officials, according to Peter Weber, executive director of the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA).

The governor’s deadline is Oct. 18 for those affected to be fully vaccinated, meaning teachers, coaches, volunteers and referees must be vaccinated, or they won’t be able to work any games.

Weber said he expects the vaccine requirement to exacerbate what was already an acute shortage of officials from around the state.

“We already have a shortage of officials, not just in football but other sports,” Weber said. “That (the vaccine requirement) will reduce our numbers, based on what we’re hearing from our officials.”

According to the Oregon Athletic Officials Association, the number of registered officials for high school sports has been declining steadily for the past decade.

The number of registered football officials has declined from 826 during the 2010-11 academic year to just 483 in 2020-21. That decline accelerated during the pandemic — there were 658 registered officials for football during the 2019-20 academic year before 175 officials did not return for the current academic year. The decrease was the largest in the past six academic years.

The number of registered soccer officials dwindled from 454 during the 2019-20 year to 350 in 2020-21. In volleyball, there were 424 officials in 2019-20, but that number has dropped to 264 for the current year. Like football, the year-to-year decreases in each sport were the largest in six years.

“We’re already seeing some of that and that will continue. Depending the association and the sport, it’s anywhere from 10% to 25%,” Weber said. “That varies in different parts of the state. There could be one area where they have plenty of football officials and another area where they don’t have many soccer officials.”

The shortage could become more acute in areas in eastern and southern Oregon, where vaccination rates are among the lowest in the state.

For example, Lake, Malheur and Harney counties each have vaccination rates below 50%. The 15 counties with vaccination rates of less than 60% are primarily located in eastern and southern Oregon.

Jack Folliard, executive director of the Oregon Athletic Officials Association, said he expects to lose a number of officials, but he won’t know the exact number until after Oct. 18.

“We are going to lose a certain percentage of our officials,” Folliard said. “I think particularly in some of the communities in eastern Oregon and southern Oregon, where some of those communities have different philosophies with the respect to getting vaccinated.

“It’s going to hurt us.”

The shortage has forced high schools to scramble and become creative to play games.

Schools are scheduling games on non-traditional days. Football games, normally played on Friday, are now being scheduled on Saturday or Thursday. Some games are being played in the afternoon, allowing crews to work two games in a day.

Folliard said the increased workload is physically demanding for officials, who have an average age of nearly 50.

“It’s very common for a referee to do a freshman game on a Friday at 4 p.m. and then zip over to do the varsity game,” Folliard said. “That’s tough to work two football games in an afternoon and evening.”

Folliard said it’s too late to train new officials in time for the current fall sports season (football, soccer, volleyball). Schools and teams will have to make do with the limited number of available officials. Unfortunately for schools, teams, players, coaches and supporters, the number of available officials is likely to shrink after Oct. 18.

“We have to continue to work with the number of officials that we have,” Weber said. “Our schools will have to adjust where needed.”

— Geoffrey C. Arnold | @geoffreyCarnold