"Outside world" has obligations to sports officials

(RACINE, Wis.) — The National Association of Sports Officials today released a 323-word document called A Covenant with Sports Officials.

"It is our hope this covenant will become widely accepted by organizations, associations and assignors as the blueprint for working with sports officials in a professional and responsible manner," said NASO President Barry Mano. "A Covenant with Sports Officials is the statement of those beliefs. The covenant is still a statement of rights officials should enjoy but it also stipulates the responsibilities officials have to be entitled to those rights."

When NASO was founded in 1980, the organization "felt an abiding need to develop and publish a Sports Officials Bill of Rights," according to Mano. It marked the first time those rights were articulated and the document "well served its purpose for many years," Mano says. However, society’s perception of sports officials has changed dramatically in recent times and the treatment of officials prompted the nearly 18,000-member organization to take a fresh look at its role and how it interacts with others. The result was the development of the covenant.

In addition to A Covenant with Sports Officials, NASO and the Officiating Development Alliance (ODA), an increasingly influential group of officiating leaders representing all levels of sports officiating, drafted and adopted A Code of Conduct for Sports Officials last fall.

Mano emphasizes the code and the covenant "should be viewed as companion documents. One spells out the how officials are to act toward others and their responsibilities; the other, how others are to act toward officials."

Both documents can be viewed at NASO’s web site, www.naso.org. NASO is encouraging recreational, high school, collegiate and professional governing bodies to utilize the documents in their officiating relations programs.

NASO is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) educational association advocates the interests of all sports officials through its educational products, membership benefits and public relations programs. Founded in 1980, the organization has members working at all levels of sport from the professional ranks to amateur athletic programs.