Locked-out referees stage protests on MLS season’s opening day

NEW YORK — American soccer’s locked-out referees union protested outside Major League Soccer’s headquarters on Wednesday, demanding better pay and benefits for work that feels full-time but isn’t treated like it.

The frigid Manhattan air was a far cry from the warmth of South Florida, where MLS’s 29th season kicked off Wednesday. Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami hosted Real Salt Lake in the opener, and the most famous player in league history was watched by replacement officials.

“The league is growing, it’s getting more attention, it’s getting more money — sponsorship deals, everything,” veteran referee Guido Gonzales Jr. told The Inquirer. “We just want to be compensated fairly based on what’s being asked of us as a product on the field.”

Another longtime official, José Carlos Rivero, attended the protest with his family. His father and grandfather were soccer refs in their native Peru and fought their own labor battles over the years.

On Wednesday, Rivero’s wife and children wore referee jerseys, blew whistles, honked their car horn, and waved red and yellow cards.

“They can tell you how many times I left the house,” he said, noting that his wife keeps count with a spreadsheet. “So I think we deserve a little bit more than what we are getting. Not just money-wise, not just salary-wise, but better flights, accommodations, more security on the job, and all these situations.”

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The pay issue is especially important for assistant referees and video review officials.

Most assistants make at most $35,000 a year from their MLS regular-season work, a source who knows recently told The Inquirer. Lead video review officials make around the same, and video assistants make at most $17,000 a year. All work around 30 games each season.

Tom Supple, one of those video review officials, said his time commitment is 30-35 hours per week.

“I probably could go work at McDonald’s and have a much less stressful life and make more money,” said the Boston-area resident, whose regular job is owning a kitchen and bathroom design firm.

“It allows me some flexibility for my schedule,” he said, “but I pretty much consider I’m working two full-time jobs right now.”

The union also seeks better benefits, especially when it comes to travel. Soccer referees have to be in great physical and mental shape because they run up and down the field with the players they oversee. So they want more business-class flights during the year and more time to rest and recover between games.

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Assistant referee Brian Dunn said he works up to 50 hours a week for the job when counting fitness training.

“I work out for almost two hours every day just to stay fit,” the 49-year-old said. “We are getting older; the players are getting younger and faster. So if you’re not eating properly, staying fit, you won’t be successful in refereeing.”

The Professional Referee Organization, the management side of the dispute, offered an increase in business-class travel in bargaining. The union, officially the Professional Soccer Referees Association, said that would only cover a handful of more flights per year.

“Let’s treat us like professionals,” Gonzales said. “Treat us like the quality athletes that we are, just like everybody else.”

Ricardo Barreto, an amateur referee from New Jersey, came to the city to lend his support. He also wore his official apparel, bearing the U.S. Soccer Federation’s amateur referee crest.

It was a reminder that referee development at all levels of American soccer has long been underfunded. Fortunately, that has started to change, thanks in part to federation CEO JT Batson’s history as an official.

“Without the referees, there is no official game,” Barreto said. “If we all want to grow in every department that’s a part of U.S. Soccer, there’s no question that the referees need to be a part of that.”

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Unless the impasse is fixed by the weekend, the league’s other 27 teams will start their seasons with replacement refs. That includes the Union, who host the Chicago Fire on Saturday (7:30 p.m., Apple TV, paywalled).

“The use of replacement referees will not only negatively impact the quality of our matches, it may also jeopardize the health and safety of players,” the MLS Players Association said in a statement Tuesday.

Gonzales thanked the players for supporting the same officials they scream at during games.

“It goes to show that when you look at this from the outside in, we’re all part of the show,” he said. “We’re all soccer people — every single coach, player, referee, anyone you talk to is really passionate about the game. And we’re just here to make the game better and do the best we can on the field.”

Fans’ reactions have been mixed. While many longtime fans have backed the refs, some newer ones haven’t.

Of course, fans everywhere complain about officials, from the soccer world to other American sports. But remember the 2012 NFL lockout?

If Messi’s game Wednesday has the equivalent of that year’s famed blown game-ending touchdown call — or, heaven forbid, a major injury — a new generation of fans might learn an old lesson.

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“I think we as a referee group also can do better to make sure that the public understands everything that it takes to be a professional referee,” Gonzales said. “The more people understand who we are and what we are as people off the field, they’ll appreciate a little bit more what we do on the field.”

During the last MLS referee work stoppage in 2014, the league brought in replacements from South and Central America. This time, Rivero said, those officials said no out of solidarity.

“They understand what we’re working for,” he said. “It’s not for me at the end of the day. If my son wants to become a referee down the road, it’s for him. It’s for the new generation of referees that are coming along.”

A few hours into the protest, the crowd was joined by members of a Long Island-based Teamsters Union local. They brought an inflatable pig that they attached to the roof of a Jeep, and one of the referees decorated it with a jersey.

That got just the reaction they wanted, from soccer fans on social media to passersby on 5th Avenue.

There was also a protest at the same hour in Dallas, where PRO has been training the replacement refs.

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PRO is funded by the leagues that use the officials: MLS, the NWSL, and the USL’s lower-level leagues. MLS pays by far the biggest share, and PRO’s offices are at MLS’s headquarters.

On Wednesday, MLS acknowledged the replacement refs could be of lesser quality by postponing the implementation of some new rules: time limits on injury stoppages and substitutions and the announcement of video review decisions in stadiums. One source said the replacements hadn’t been trained on the new rules, which were announced in December.

The league also said it won’t announce referee assignments for games until a few hours before kickoff, claiming it’s a matter of safety.

Fortunately, the league’s postgame pool reporting process will continue. Similar to other American sports, one journalist per game is allowed to ask questions of the lead official about controversial calls.

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