Policies

General GLOA Polices for Officials

Contact Information, Blocks and Pre-Game Communication

  • Ensure you keep your contact information, availability, and blocks updated on Arbiter.
  • It is expected that GLOA members will make themselves available for GLOA assigned games as their priority. Repeatedly ignoring this could result in suspension or expulsion from GLOA.
  • It is the Umpire’s obligation to contact the Referee 48 hours prior to contest to arrange meeting time and location.

Uniform and Equipment

  • Officials are responsible for ensuring they have all the required uniform items and equipment.
  • Uniforms should be clean, not discolored, and in good repair. We want to present a professional image to the teams. In case of differing selections (long sleeve vs. short sleeve or shorts vs. rain paints), the referee determines what is to be worn. Please see the Uniforms and Equipment page as well as the GLOA Gear page for more details.

Game Conduct and Responsibilities

  • Crews should plan on meeting at least 45 minutes prior to game for all varsity contests and 25 minutes for sub-varsity contests.
  • The referee for a given game is responsible for providing Certification/Rating Cards to the coaches.
  • Note NFHS (Federation) Mercy Rule — if one team is up by 10 or more goals in the 2nd half, then go to a running clock.
  • Schools must provide adequate security for officials. Find out who the site coordinator is before the game begins. The home team is responsible for security. Do not allow fans to congregate behind the team bench areas.

Insurance

  • If you are officiating a game that has not been assigned through GLOA and the Arbiter, then GLOA has no responsibility to you financially and you are not covered by the Association’s insurance.
  • Report any player/coach misconducts using the Incident Report Form within 24 hours of the contest. (This was formally the Game Report Form)
  • Get in, do the job, then leave. Do not loiter on the field or in the parking lot following a game!
  • Have fun, be safe, and think!

Inclement Weather, Postponements and Game Cancellations

In the event of inclement weather, the following procedure must be followed by officials and schools. Detailed both in the GHSA Constitution (a.k.a. “White Book) and in the NFHS Lacrosse Rule Book (see Rule 3, Section 5 and Appendix D).

Inclement Weather

  • ghsalaxlogofiAll GHSA schools are required to provide a lighting detector on site.
  • When the lightning detector indicates a dangerous situation, the official will suspend play.  When the lighting detector indicates that it is safe to resume play, the contest may resume.
  • If you are officiating at a site with no lightning detector, follow the procedure detailed in the NFHS Rule Book (Appendix D) – “when thunder is heard, or a cloud-to-ground lightning bolt is seen, the thunderstorm is close enough to strike your location with lightning.  Suspend play and take shelter immediately.”  Only resume play when a minimum of 30 minutes have elapsed since the last audible thunder or cloud-to-ground lightning bolt.

Game Cancellations

  • Cut off time for notifying officials of a cancellation is three (3) hours prior to the scheduled start time for the game. Since most of the games are 4:30 – 5:00 start times the cut off for an afternoon game would be 1:30 – 2:00.
  • If the game is cancelled the schools are obligated to contact the officials by phone to let them know of the cancellation.
  • Game is official if called after the second quarter is complete.
  • If a team does not arrive at the game site for any contest without notifying the host opponent of a late arrival, that contest will be forfeited 30 minutes after the scheduled game time.

Referees

  • The referee should contact the school if there is a concern regarding whether the game will be played.
  • It is the referee’s obligation to notify the umpire (and field judge should one be assigned).

Postponement and Continuation 

  • GHSA Varsity teams are from the same classification, the game must be played to completion.  Administrators from the competing schools may agree to postpone the contest and resume competition at the point of interruption at a later time.  The team that is behind may choose not to resume the contest at a later date.
  • Note that by rule, the officials may suspend the game – this may become necessary if the administrators from the competing schools disagree about postponing the game and if the officials are concerned for the continued safety of the players.
  • All other games, GLOA will observe GHSA Constitution 2.93.c. (the “two hour-wait-rule” – i.e. the game will be stopped if the delay is two hours cumulative), except for sub-Varsity games in which the two-hours will be reduced to one-hour.  Note that this applies to all leagues to which GLOA assigns officials unless there is a specific league policy superseding.

Payment 

  • Failure of the schools to contact the referees obligates the school for payment of the fees.Game postponed or cancelled after official is on site but before the face off, team pays travel fee.
  • Game postponed or cancelled after face off but before the end of the second quarter, team pays travel and one half of game fee.
  • If you as the official are scheduled for a game and you do not show up, the association is liable to monetary compensation to the school. GLOA may choose to recoup these expenses from your game fees.