Area football officials prepare for 2025 season
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WWAY) — While football practices don’t start until Wednesday, another gridiron group has been preparing for the 2025 season for around two months.
Members of the East Carolina Football Officials Association have held weekly meetings over the summer to refresh their knowledge of the rulebook in the classroom. For this week’s lesson, they also took the field at Legion Stadium.
Jason Dunker is entering his 25th season as an official and feels it is important to be up to date on every part of the game.
“We have to prepare,” Dunker said. Each year, the players get a year younger and we get a year older. There’s always rules changes every year. There’s mechanics changes every year. And we have to stay abreast to that.”
(Photo: Colton Emswiler/WWAY)
Both veterans and rookies learn together during this time. Less experienced officials are brought up with the knowledge they need to succeed from their very first game.
“We start them from ground one with the basics,” Dunker said. “From ordering a uniform to registering with the state association, our local association. We teach them from ground level. What a dead ball is, what a live ball is. What a snap is, what a pass is. Just the basic fundamentals of football from day one.”
(Photo: Colton Emswiler/WWAY)
Many parts of the game remain the same, but there are changes year after year.
Michael Brown has been officiating football for 38 years and has to know what’s different in 2025.
“The new rule is a forward fumble out of bounds,” Brown said. “We bring it back to where they lost the ball at. We bring it back in and we wind the clock up. That was one of the basic main ones. The other ones are jersey colors and little things like that. When we get out there, we have to know these things like the back of our hand. We’ve got to know the rules each and every year.”
For the on field section, the group had lessons on a wide range of topics. Those include things like pre-snap positioning, managing the sideline and how to properly execute the coin toss.
(Photo: Colton Emswiler/WWAY)
For 32 years, Johnnie Forte has been calling games. That includes 26 at the Division I college level.
His experience and expertise led him to being on the officiating crew that worked the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship Game between Georgia and Alabama.
(Photo: Colton Emswiler/WWAY)
He says the job has led to strong friendships and life lessons.
“We like the camaraderie we have to call the games,” Forte said. “I always say we may not remember all the games that we work, but we remember the people we work with. That’s the rewarding part for us. My mantra is H2O. Stay humble, stay hungry and outwork everybody else. That’s how you get to stay on top during the game.”
(Photo: Colton Emswiler/WWAY)
While another season does mean that the chirping of the crowd is soon to follow, they want people to know they are prepared to call every game fairly and correctly.
“During the season, I know fans get upset or whatever during the game,” Brown said. “Just be a student of the game. Just be a great fan. Root for your team. And you can assure that these officials are trained to the best of their ability to officiate this game.”
