[refnrev]

ward,
I did a U-14 boys round robin yesterday so I can sympathize with you. I intentionally took the R in the 3rd game: (1.) because it was between rival communties with a bad history of problems at the high school level. I live in one of the communities and have officiated 3 sports in the other for years. (2) The parents in both places tend to go from sane and rational people to total idiots in a split second (remember I've officiated these fans for years), and (3) The coach of the visiting U-14 is a HS referee with whom I have officiated a couple of times... one who overstimates his knowledge and skill level greatly. He's the only coach I have ever had an assignor send me to a tournament to with explicit instructions to "shut the guy up." Great game yesterday. I called it tight at first to set the tone and early on looked a couple of kids squre in the eye and told them to "chill" which they immediately did. 0-0 at the half. Second half well played and evenly played. Home team scores on a breakaway a little over halfway through the period. Home team has a foul. The V coach starts whining wanting the advantage -- which, by the way, there was not. He questions why I didn't give it to him and implied I did not do so to give the H team a chance to set up their defense. Without ever looking at him I yelled, "Knock it off, _____." He replied, "I won't knock it off." I look at him, give him the stop sign and say, "That's it. Knock it off now or you're taking a walk." He knew that it was no idol threat -- that I meant it. What I want to say is that sometimes you have to stop things immediately. Players are your responsibility. Coaches are your responsibility. Fans can be at times, but I try to make them the coach's or the site person's responsibility.
Also, as someone else said earlier, don't try to coach them. Call your game as best you can. Make sure you are charge of the game. As for parents, they all want their kids to win. Sometimes they are just a little over the top.