Fan Ejection?
 

I have read many forums that umpires *can not* eject a fan. He is to talk to the coach about getting his fans under control, but then the text stops there. I am currently looking at the online conflict management stuff thats required by my state, and it refers to conflict management after a fan has been ejected and being alert to exits and where local police may be in case of altercations.

My question is. CAN AN UMPIRE EJECT A FAN? If not, and the umpire has told the coach to get his fans in order, what is the next step if the fan continues? (i am talking about Youth league, but knowing the NCAA/etc rules may also be advantageous for the group in general)

You cannot eject a fan. Your jurisdiction is th field of play.

You CAN ask the site coordinator/league officer/TD to take care of it.

It isn't the coach's job either - he has enough to worry about.

Here, we don't have those officials present for spring/summer league games, and, again here, many leagues, by local rule, make it the coach's responsibility.

Next step, if problem fan doesn't stop or doesn't leave, might be something like, "Coach, we are not continuing play until he/she leaves."

^ This ^

An umpire should always be aware of who is in charge of game management. That person can range from a school administrator (AD, Principal, District Admin) to a league supervisor/admin to a tournament director. Unless otherwise stated, that person handles everything outside the field and the umpire handles everything inside it once play has started. Hopefully the person in charge will handle a spectator that needs to leave without any involvement from an umpire.

The question I have for everyone is what is behind the need for us to worry about ejecting spectators. I was trained that the extent to which I needed to worry about spectators was limited to interference and interruption. If a fan interferes with a live ball, follow the rules for dealing with the situation. If a fan interrupts the game (enters the field, throws items onto the field, etc), suspend play until it is safe to resume play. Make sure game management is aware of the situation and what needs to happen to resume play. I'm not saying I don't hear fans screaming at me, but I've never felt like I couldn't continue a game unless said fan was removed. Maybe I've also been fortunate enough to have game/site managers that took care of the problem before I cracked (because I'll be honest, there probably is a point at which I'd want someone tossed, but it hasn't happened yet).

As Rich Ives stated, you as an umpire, do not eject fans.

What you do is get both coaches together and tell them to verify that everything is in the score books (runners, who's at bat, etc) and then have them pull all their players into their respective dugouts. Then announce that the game will not continue until the order has been restored. You and your partner go out to the grass area behind 2nd base and stay there until everything has been dealt. If after about 5 minutes, the situation hasn't been resolved, call the coaches together again and end the game. Be sure that the TD or someone in authority gets informed of the situation.

Coaches and players don't want to have a game continue if the fans are becoming jerks just as much as you don't want to umpire a game like that.

Technically, no.

In practice, sure you can. Or you don't resume the game. In 999 out of 1000 situations, the fan will leave or be asked to leave.

I have never had this issue in a sport except softball. Working a HS JV game, we had a parent who was becoming a major problem for the teams and for umpires. She was swearing and causing a problem. She had been warned by the AD, but he had to go deal with another sport on the opposite side of the school. When he left she continued her prior behavior. When she decided to start dropping F-bombs at me about a call that went against her daughters team, I had enough and I told her it was time to leave. I explained to the coaches the game would not continue until after she left. She finally packed up her stuff and left. After the game her daughter came up and thanked me for ejecting her, and apologized for her mothers behavior. I actually felt really bad for the girl, because everyone knows that she is the one with the crazy mother. The only drawback to this was having to fill out an officials report.



One other thing to remember on this topic. Depending on the circumstances, you as the umpire, may be the only administrative representative present. I work a lot of games for a city Rec Department where we play in city parks. I am the only representative of the Rec Department present. If there is a fan issue, I have to deal with it. Normally when that happens I do use the coach / manager / players to help control the fans. If that doesn't work, I do have an area supervisor I can call as well, but he could be across town. I have never had an issue with the Rec League with fans being that much of a problem. I have almost had to call the cops because of a player who was ejected however.