Quote:
Originally posted by ChrisSportsFan
Hey Guys/Gals, I've been visiting this forum for a few months and finally decided to register.
Here's one and I'll try to keep a long story from being longer:: It's Mother's Day and I'm working a girls 8th grade game, my partner calls an obvious train reck foul on team A, a parent from A (a Mother) starts booing and hissing, a parent from team B (a Mother) starts applauding my partner, same Mom from A walks the length of the floor to confront Mom from B and proceeds to deck her, husband stands up and "A" quickly helps him back into his seat. I race to coaches and make them go deal with it while I stood with my back to the wall. I ended up running both parents and suggesting someone not let them be in the parking lot alone.
What's your thoughts on this situation and also I know many of you have witnessed out of control parents and I'd like to hear about it.
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I am going to make the following assumuptions (even though my H.S. geometry teacher told me never to assume because it will make an A(ss) of U and Me):
1) Since the game was being played on Mother's Day, it was during a tournament (AAU, YBOA, AYBTour, NAYB, etc.).
2) Since this was a tournament game there was a Site Manager present.
Spectators are not the concern of the game officials, except for the following exceptions:
1) A spectator makes threats of physical violence against a participant (game officials, table officials, players, coaches, and bench personnel) of the game.
2) The spectator enters the playing court/field.
3) The spectator throws material onto the playing court/field.
4) The extremely rare situations that impact play on the playing court/field. These situations will always be subject to debate, and usually occur when the number of spectators is very small, usually under 100.
Contrary to poplular belief, spectators are not the responsibility of the game officials. Game officials have enought to worry about what is happening between the lines let alone what is happeneing in the stands. When any of the above three things happen, stop the game and have the Site Manager take care of it.
Have I ever had a spectator removed from a game? Yes. How many? Four.
1) I had the Site Manager remove two spectators removed from an AAU Boys' National Invitational Basketball tournament game for entering the court to show their displeasure with a call that my partner made.
2) I had the Athletic Director remove a spectator during a boys' H.S. jr. varsity basketball game after he came onto the court during play because he did not like my officiating and he pushed me from behind.
3) And, just last week during the YBOA Boys' Basketball National Championships I had the Site Manager remove a mother who was sitting in the front row, for calling me a "f****** racist" while I was about to place the ball into play on a sideline throw-in during a boys' 9U game. There were about six players in the immediate vicinity and their mouths hit the floor when they heard her. There was considerably less that 100 spectators in the stands for this game. Had this been a large crowd, I would have ignored her comments.
The first two spectator removals that I have described fell under my Rules 1 and 2, and the third removal fell under Rule 4.
Your situation falls under my Rule 4, and you were correct to stop the game, but the Site Manager should have been the person that should have addressed the problem.
During the first week of the July at the YBOA Girls' Basketabll Championships, a fight broke out between parents during a 13U game. The game officials stopped the game and let the Site Manager handle the situation. And, no, I was not one of the game officials for this game; I was officiating at a different site.
The real problem for the game officials is when there are no Site Manager or Game Administrators at the game site when a situation like yours happened. When such a thing happens, just stop the game and let itself play itself out. Do NOT get involved. Let the coaches take care of but do NOT get involved, except to maybe call 911.
MTD, Sr.
[Edited by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. on Aug 5th, 2004 at 03:01 PM]