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Originally posted by Jurassic Referee
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Originally posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.
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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.
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Disagree- somewhat. If spectators aren't part of our responsibility, then why did they put rules in the book to cover them? Specifically NFHS rule 2-8-1- which does give us the right to call a "T" on a team's fans or eject them(also see casebook play 2.8.1). We also have to apply Rule 1-18 and casebook play 1.18 with regards to noisemakers,etc. as part of our duties also. Iow, the stands are our responsibility, but we don't deal with them directly, unless it's via a "T"- which has happened already in NCAA games for fans throwing toilet paper on the floor after the home team made their first basket. Game management acts at OUR direction.
We're probably just arguing semantics, Mark, but I wanted to emphasize that game management, including the fans, is definitely part of our duties. [/B][/QUOTE]
I agree with you on what is in the rules books, in fact in the YBOA tournament last week, I had the site manager tell three parents to put artificial noise makers away. But I would caution you to charge a team with a technical foul because of the behavior of its spectators, it is a no win situation that no official wants. There are much better ways to handle spectators. As far as the NCAA and its rule regarding the throwing toilet paper onto the court, that rule was adopted because of a few colleges where the students took great delight in stopping the game; since that rule was adopted, the toilet paper throwing has become a thing of the past.