Initiative aims to stop verbal abuse of young hockey referees

Hockey referees ages 18 and younger across the north are wearing a green armband over their uniforms.

It's a part of the 'Green Arm Band' initiative that aims to prevent verbal abuse of young refs by players, parents and coaches.

The initiative began in 2020 in Montreal, and this year the Northern Ontario Hockey Association is following suit.

"These are officials that may be first- (or) second-year officials," said NOHA executive director Jason Marchand.

"We want to make sure they have a positive experience and help people understand, not just the players and coaches, but the spectators to understand that they are learning and they aren't perfect … We want to avoid them having a poor experience."

Marchand said the number of referees across the north has gone down significantly in the last couple of years -- and abuse is a major reason why.

"Over the last seven or eight years, we've probably gone down in our number of officials, probably by half. Last year we had about 350, about 700 before that," he said.

"There's a number of reasons, abuse is a big one … So, we've done a few things to try and recruit officials and further support them with the green armband, and curb that abuse."

Marchand said quite a few referees in the region are young, with more than 35 per cent of them 18 or younger.