Rich Ekman said he is not sure exactly how many soccer officials he will need for the upcoming Bend Unified Recreation Soccer League season, but he knows he could always use a few more. Or a lot more.

This year, more than 1,780 boys and girls are signed up for the league, which is a joint program of the Bend Park & Recreation District and the Bend FC Timbers. More than 40 league games will be played at Pine Nursery and Big Sky Parks each Saturday from Sept. 12 to Oct. 31.

“We never know how many (officials) we’re going to have; we just know we need a lot,” said Ekman, the BPRD sports program coordinator. “A lot end up being high school soccer players, but sometimes it conflicts with their high school schedule. If, say, Summit has a game out of town on a Saturday, we don’t have those refs.”

Ekman said the league prefers to assign two referees to each game due to the large size of the playing field, but a shortage of officials in the past has led to compromises, such as playing the game with just one referee or asking parents on the sidelines to grab a whistle and fill in.

Along with a thorough understanding of the rules of soccer, Ekman said good referee candidates should be willing to explain the rules to young and sometimes inexperienced players.

“You have to like the game of soccer and kids, and we want officials to interact with kids,” Ekman said. “It definitely takes some tough skin. You’ll be critiqued by coaches, players and parents.”

—Reporter: 541-383-0305, vjacobsen@bendbulletin.com