Beau Rugg with the Ohio High School Athletic Association talked about the referee shortage the state is seeing.

He explained how a rise in referee assaults could be contributing to the shortage.

“With the cellphones and with video, the perception from fans is you have to be perfect, that’s not going to happen,” he said.

Rugg explained that the OHSAA always trains officials to rise above the comments from fans, but it can be tough. The National Association of Sports Officials found that the No. 1 reason referees do not come back or become officials is because of fan behavior and safety.

“Those are the things we have to combat and say here is what we are doing to mitigate that,” Rugg said.