Through funding from the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries, OSN engaged ITP Sport & Recreation and Sheffe Consulting to conduct five focus groups to collect feedback from officials to inform a strategy geared towards the recruitment and rentention of sport officials in Ontario.
Through provincial sport organizations (PSOs) and multi-sport organizations (MSOs) officials were identified to participate, who met a wide range of demographics, including: level of certification, experience and level of competition officiated, gender, age, geographic representation (across the province and rural/Urban/Northern), ethnic/cultural background, disability, etc. In total, 107 officials registered from 29 PSOs and MSOs and 92 officials participated in the focus groups.
View Report
Below are the top 3 barriers for recruitment among those survey
Abuse & Harassment
Physical or verbal abuse or harassment of officials by participants, coaches or spectators was the largest barrier to the recruitment of officials in sport in Ontario.
Financial Costs
The financial costs associated to training courses, equipment and uniforms ranked 2nd among largest barriers in recruitment.
Course Availability
Availability of training clinics/courses in terms of timing and geographic proximity of courses and clinics was the 3rd largest barrier when it comes to recruitment of sport officials in Ontario.
Below are the top 3 barriers for retention among those survey
Abuse & Harassment
Physical or verbal abuse or harassment of officials by participants, coaches or spectators was the largest barrier to the retention of officials in sport in Ontario.
Financial Compensation
The compensation that Officials in Ontario receive in their respective sports was the 2nd largest barrier for the retention of officials.
Financial Costs
The other side of financial compensation for Officials would be the financial Costs related to officiating. These financial costs associated to training courses, equipment and uniforms ranked 3rd among largest barriers in retention.