Our general football referees for hire guide covers crew sizes, costs, and last-minute coverage across youth tackle, flag, and 7-on-7. This page goes deeper on Pop Warner specifically, because Pop Warner Little Scholars — the national organization behind it — runs a structure that's genuinely different from a town rec tackle league or a school-affiliated program, and it's worth understanding before you're booking officials for a Pop Warner Saturday.
The defining structural feature of Pop Warner is that most programs place players into divisions based on a combination of age and weight, not age alone — a system that distinguishes it from many other youth football organizations that run purely age-based divisions. Local leagues and associations do get to choose between an age-based track and an age/weight-based track, so the exact system in play can vary by which Long Island association is running the program, but the age/weight model is Pop Warner's signature approach.
Pop Warner runs six divisions on that scale. At the youngest level, Tiny-Mite, players are 5 to 7 years old and must weigh between 35 and 75 pounds at the start of the season, with an in-season cap of 84 pounds. At the oldest level, Bantam, 13- to 15-year-olds must weigh between 135 and 185 pounds to start the season (capped at 194 pounds), while 16-year-olds have a separate allowance to play Bantam at 135 to 165 pounds starting weight, capped at 174. The divisions in between step up incrementally on the same age/weight logic. For an official or a coordinator, the practical takeaway is that a division name alone — "Pee Wee," "Junior Varsity" — doesn't tell you everything; the weight ceiling attached to it is doing real work in how the game is played and who's allowed to line up where.
Pop Warner requires every rostered player to get a minimum number of plays per game, scaled to how many kids are on the roster: teams with 16 to 25 players must give each player at least 10 plays, teams with 26 to 30 players require 8 plays, and teams with 31 to 35 players require 6 plays. This isn't something the on-field officiating crew tracks play by play — it's a coaching-staff substitution responsibility, typically verified through post-game reporting rather than enforced in real time by the referee. But it's worth knowing as context: a mandatory-play dispute is a different kind of problem than a rules dispute during the game, and it's not something a booked official is expected to police mid-contest. If a parent or coach raises it on the sideline, it's a league administrative matter, not something to relitigate with the crew.
Pop Warner Little Scholars is the only national youth sports organization that requires participants to meet an academic standard before they're allowed to play — a minimum grade point average of 2.0, or 70%. On top of that baseline, Pop Warner runs an All-American Scholar recognition program for players in 5th grade and above: a 96% GPA qualifies a player to apply for National All-American Scholar status, and 92% qualifies for Regional recognition. None of this affects what happens on the field or what an official calls, but it's a meaningful part of why Pop Warner programs on Long Island talk about the organization differently than a purely athletic league — academics are baked into the brand, not an afterthought.
Certification-wise, officials working Pop Warner games generally come from the same pool as any youth tackle assignment — trained on contact rules, formations, and safety enforcement, the same fundamentals covered in our football referees for hire guide. What's specific to Pop Warner is knowing the age/weight division you're working: a Tiny-Mite game at the 5–7, sub-85-pound level runs a very different physical intensity and set of safety considerations than a Bantam game with 15-year-olds up to nearly 200 pounds. An official experienced with older, heavier divisions shouldn't assume the same positioning and awareness habits transfer directly down to the youngest weight class, where the margin for a bad angle on a hit is much thinner.
Crew size still follows the standard youth tackle model — a crew of three to five officials depending on age and league requirements, detailed in our general football guide's cost table. What changes with Pop Warner specifically is confirming the division's weight class and any local variations the association has adopted, since Pop Warner allows individual associations some flexibility within the national framework.
Fall Saturdays on Long Island often run several Pop Warner divisions back-to-back or simultaneously across multiple fields at the same complex — Tiny-Mite in the morning, older divisions later in the day — which means a single official cancelling can ripple across more than one game if the crew is shared across time slots. It's the same crunch our fall sports referee booking guide covers more broadly: fall football crews fill up weeks in advance, and a late cancellation is exactly where coverage gaps and forfeits show up. Because tackle football needs a full crew rather than a single official, a Pop Warner Saturday gap is one of the more urgent calls we get during the season — running a tackle game short-crewed is a safety issue, not just an inconvenience.
EmergencyRefs staffs certified football officials for Pop Warner age/weight divisions across Nassau and Suffolk County — including last-minute crew fills. Tell us the field, division, and kickoff time.
Request Pop Warner Football OfficialsPop Warner Little Scholars uses age/weight-based divisions rather than age alone for most programs, and it's the only national youth sports organization requiring a minimum academic grade average to participate. It also runs its own mandatory-play rule guaranteeing every rostered player a set number of plays per game.
Pop Warner runs six divisions on an age/weight scale. Tiny-Mite (ages 5–7) requires 35–75 lbs to start, capped at 84. Bantam (ages 13–15) requires 135–185 lbs to start, capped at 194; 16-year-olds may play Bantam at 135–165 lbs to start, capped at 174. Leagues can also choose an age-based track instead.
Every rostered player must get a minimum number of plays, scaled to roster size: 10 plays for teams of 16–25 players, 8 plays for 26–30, and 6 plays for 31–35. It's a coaching-staff substitution responsibility tracked through game reporting, not something the on-field crew monitors during play.
Yes. It's the only national youth sports organization with a formal academic eligibility standard — a 2.0 GPA (70%) minimum — plus an All-American Scholar program requiring 96% GPA for national recognition or 92% for regional, for players in 5th grade and up.
Yes. Fall Saturdays run multiple divisions across several fields at once, and a crew gap is one of the most common last-minute calls we get during the season. We maintain certified officials across Nassau and Suffolk County who know age/weight division play.