Any black refs in the MLS?
In answering, I'm not going to distinguish between refs and assistants because these guys are in the same business/in line for the same business.
The converse question is what's the representation of black refs officiating youth games in England. In the US, it's not uncommon to see black, arab, and latino refs or assistants at youth games. On the college scene, the diversity is perhaps less overtly notable.
However, if refs don't start in the lower ranks of the game, they can't, and won't, rise to the higher echelons of the game.
In the MLS, yuh have Ismail Elfath, Younes Marrakchi, Baboucarr Jallow, Joe Fletcher and a host of latino officials.
On the US front, in terms of representation of officials by race compared to fan and player participation in the game, latinos are the group most representative of parity or something tending to parity.
At the end of the day, who seriously thinks about becoming a ref and how?
I know parents who encourage their children to do it ... to earn $ and learn how to exercise discretion and authority. For the most part, kids take their role seriously ... what they lack at times is doing so consistently for long periods of time. I've had to pull a couple up by reminding them that the game means eveything to a 12 year old, so they shouldn't take a laissez-faire attitude because "ah well what does it matter" to the young player. Nevertheless, the thing is ... by these 16 and 17 year olds etc. getting this experience at a young age, it sets them on a path for pursuing it up the ranks.
This is far removed from how we used to choose refs when I was in school ... being the ref was probably about as "glorified" as being the keeper.