The Truth Revealed. Your Value Restored.
Coaches & Referees
You're out there in the scorching sun, braving the elements, shaping young lives, and ensuring fair competition. Yet, you're often left unpaid or grossly underpaid, while organizations pocket hefty fees and receive sweetheart deals on public facilities. Your passion is exploited, your dedication taken for granted. This stops now.
Families & Communities
Your children deserve the highest quality sports experience, led by skilled and motivated professionals who are invested in their growth. Instead, you're often paying high fees to organizations that exploit volunteer labor and offer sub-par services, all while engaging in backroom deals that shut out competition. Your hard-earned money should support the quality of your child's development, not a culture of corruption and exploitation.
A Proven Path Forward: The FC Riverside County Model
Some say fair pay isn't possible in youth sports. We say it's not just possible—it's essential for quality, integrity, and economic justice. Look at FC Riverside County. We proudly pay all our coaches and referees a minimum of $25 an hour. This isn't just a business decision; it's a moral investment in talent, dedication, and superior service. Our success proves that when you value your people, you elevate the entire community.
We are a testament to the fact that fair wages attract and retain top-tier talent, leading to vastly superior programs that truly benefit the children and families they serve. This is the future we demand for every worker in our district.
The Fight for Fair Field Allocation: End the Kickbacks!
City governments and school districts provide certain organizations with subsidized field rates and exclusive perks, often under the guise of "non-profit" status. But we must face the ugly truth: many of these so-called non-profits operate as conduits for kickbacks and personal enrichment for the well-connected. When public resources are given away for "free" to organizations that refuse to pay their workers, the coach, the referee, and the family are the ones who pay the price.
These organizations exploit volunteer labor and charge high fees to families while politicians award them prime field access based on cronyism rather than community benefit. This egregious abuse of public resources and taxpayer trust must end. We need transparency in how our public land is used.
Coaches Refs 4 Pay demands that local governments prioritize allocating field space to organizations that pay fair, living wages to their coaches, referees, and administrators. This isn't just about sports; it's about investing in genuine quality, government transparency, and a healthier, more legitimate economic ecosystem for our children. This is how we truly grow soccer—and all sports—in America, by ensuring the people who build the game can afford to live in the communities they serve.
Join the Revolution
This isn't just a website. It's a platform for the workers—the coaches, referees, and administrators—who are fed up with being treated as political pawns. It's for organizations committed to the Democratic ideal of fair pay for fair work. It's time to take back our game from the gatekeepers and the special interests.
Be part of the movement. Stay informed, share your stories, and amplify our collective demand for economic justice in our parks and in our schools.