Question:
The talk about referees not being covered by USSF liability (and other?) insurance while working a non-affiliated game makes me ask: exactly what IS covered for a referee by the USSF insurance? Can you direct me to a document that spells this out, please?
USSF answer (April 12, 2010):
You will find the answer in the Certificate of Insurance that you receive annually with your registration, that formal paper that just begs to be thrown out with the envelope. Most pertinent to your question are these two bullet points:
Coverage applies to US Soccer Federation (USSF) member referees who have been certified by USSF, but only while acting in their capacity as soccer referees during USSF sanctioned camps or clinics and during matches between USSF affiliated teams and leagues.
– This includes USSF soccer referees acting in the capacity of State Referee Administrator, State Director of Assessment, State Assignment Coordinator, State Director of Referee Instruction, Chairman of the State Referee Committee and State Youth Referee Administrator, assistant referee 4th official, assessor, instructor or assignor.
And in response to your as-yet-unasked question, “Is there anything else the well-informed referee should know about it?”, the answer is, “Don’t do unaffiliated games.”
