Violence Against Umpires

[Lilblue612]

One and all:

I'm currently doing research on ways to prevent or punish anyone associated with violence towards sports officials. If anyone could point me towards websites, scholarly journals, or books associated with prevention/punishment for attacking umpires and referees in the sporting world, I would greatly appreciate the help. As an umpire myself, I know all to well the physical and verbal abuse umpires take on a daily basis. Any input, advice, or anything else you want to add, please do not hesitate. In general, I'm specifically looking into whether or not it would be more effective to educate parents, coaches, players on proper behavior, or if new laws with stricter penalties would work better to curb violence. Thanks for your time and input!

[MAC]

TRY THE NASO. com they have a lot of material what could be of use to you, there are also some states with law's on the book's against this sort of thing. Good Luck and get back to us with youre finding's.
mac

[Rita C]

Email me.

I did some research on it a bit myself recently.

You are welcome to what sources I had.

Rita

[Whowefoolin]

Try gmcgriff.com.

They have a forum of "abuse". Look in there and ask people that may have posted recently.

[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by Lilblue612

One and all:

In general, I'm specifically looking into whether or not it would be more effective to educate parents, coaches, players on proper behavior, or if new laws with stricter penalties would work better to curb violence. Thanks for your time and input!

IMO there is plenty of education around. In HS each year we receive a card with the Sportsmanship pledge and we are to recite at the plate conference. I believe the other sports also have something similar.

Sports is emotion and therefore, education isn't the answer. It's like giving players / coaches warning after warning.

The slap on the wrist mentality has to be replaced by harsher and stiffer penalties. In addition, Youth events will have to invoke a ZERO tolerance policy.

Also, another BIG problem that IMO NASO or other surveys omit is Officials themselves. Let's not kid ourselves Some Officials are cut-throat and are always looking for that BIG game assignment.

Order on the Field starts from Game one and should be enforced by EVERYONE. However, some officials turn a blind eye and want to keep the peace or stay in favor of a certian coach so they get that BIG game assignment.

Also, associations have to get tougher as well and I mean ALL associations. If a particular league or team cannot control themselves or their fans, simply do not service them. If it's a big game no matter what sport and there are NO offficals present perhaps people sill start to get the hint.

I myself pick the leagues etc I want to officate in. I'm not so concerned about moving up etc. Officiating is not my REAL job and there is one thing for certian, I get enough ajeda from my Day job I don't need it when I officiate. There are plenty of good leagues around so I pick and choose.

Others have provide you with links etc.

Pete Booth

[Rog]

Something for your perusal:

http://www.nfhs.org/case_for_sportsmanship.htm

[greymule]

I think there are two separate issues involved. One is how do we treat actual violence visited upon officials; the other is what kind of player, coach, and spectator behavior is tolerated and what is not.

It is illegal to punch someone in the nose. It is not illegal to yell, "Open your eyes, you blind SOB." However, whereas screaming, "You're a bum!" at a violinist who misses a note at Carnegie Hall will get you thrown out and possibly arrested, yelling it at an umpire in Yankee Stadium will barely get you noticed. So what kind of behavior should get you thrown out of the park in Little League, high school, American Legion, etc.? I have seen parents thrown out of Little League parks for saying—not yelling—"C'mon ump, you gotta call 'em both ways."

In terms of the violence, I believe that attacks on officials should be punished just like attacks on anyone else. Close game, raw emotions, long afternoon, etc., are not excuses. But assault and battery is assault and battery. The penalty should not be greater for punching an official than for punching somebody's grandmother. As regards fights between players, the law recognizes that in most cases, punches thrown during the heat of a game are not treated as if they were thrown on the street.

"Zero tolerance" sounds good, but where has that policy led us? Kindergartners are suspended from school for pointing their fingers are yelling, "Bang!" on the playground. Perfectly law-abiding, conscientious school kids are suspended when a school administrator catches them with a Tylenol tablet. On college campuses, students have been held to be in violation of zero tolerance "hate speech" codes because they disagreed with somebody's political opinion (i.e., said something politically incorrect).

A friend of mine used to referee high school basketball. His career was ended in 1982 when a "fan" blind-sided him with a punch from behind as he left for the dressing room at the end of the game. I'm not sure what happened to the assailant or if they even identified him, but the last I heard, my friend was still trying to collect some kind of damages.

[Edited by greymule on Oct 31st, 2002 at 11:51 AM]

[Jackie W.]

Personally, my skin just crawls everytime I hear an ignorant fan say, "That's what they get paid for. I have a right to yell at the umps." I'm not so sure about zero tolerance either, but once a person's face is reddening because obviously emotions are getting a little too involved, I say get their keister out of there. They are usually ruining things for the rest of the crowd (they are also the same idiot who doesn't know the game). I vote their punishment is being reincarnated as an umpire.

Jackie

[nvfoa15]

Greymule,

I too used to think like you about violence against sports officials. There are laws on the books that take care of these charges. But, has pointed out the lawyers in our group, many times these people are first time offenders. The judge oftentimes, gives suspended sentences and lower fines. Legislation that makes an attack on a sports official a special case ensures that fines and penalties are imposed to the maximum and not suspended.

We have several streets in my home town that have special enforcement for speeding. Not only will you be fined for the speeding ticket ($2/mile plus costs) but an extra $200 will be assesed also. Why can't sports officials have this same consideration?

[greymule]

Dave: I understand your point, and believe me, I'm a law-and-order man. But courts usually do give first-time offenders a break, whether it's an attack on an official or a burglary or a disturbing the peace. (My town contains a number of guys who have been given seventeen or more breaks, a policy I heartily oppose.) I think the problem is that many judges assume that when assaults involve sports, well, anybody can fly off the handle in the excitement, and if everybody shakes hands, then everything will be OK, save the jail cells for the real criminals, etc. Assaults on officials must be taken as seriously as assaults on anyone else—but not more so. Maybe they could add a penalty for interfering with an official in the performance of his duties, something like that.

Your point with the speeding tickets is well taken. Everybody around here knows that if you're going 10 over the limit in town, look out, but if you're going 10 over the limit out on Route 95, you'd better be in the right lane. There is obviously selective enforcement; however, I don't think the situations are quite parallel. Mandatory sentences were introduced because some judges had been preposterously lenient with vicious criminals. Zero tolerance sure sounds good to voters. But both have backfired, producing unfairness and well-documented absurdities.

So my polemic follows:

I see today that some high school kid in Georgia was suspended from school and can't play in the homecoming football game because some administrator saw him give his girlfriend a peck on the forehead. Zero tolerance. Yet more than one kid around here has been caught with a gun in school, only to have zero tolerance for guns trumped by laws that make special cases for certain classes of people. Their lawyer simply finds a shrink who'll say they have low self-esteem, which makes them "disabled," which in turn makes them immune from discipline. As the president of the American Federation of Teachers said, "They can bring a gun to school every day. All we can do is take it away from them."

I think we have gotten ourselves into real trouble by dividing society such that certain people and groups enjoy different levels of protection and privileges. Before the law, some of us are now more equal than others.

[nvfoa15]

Greymule,

I agree that the zero tolerance measures instituted in many school districts is, to say the least, an appeasement to the public. Here in my local school district (which my wife and daughter are employees of) we have had several questionable applications of the policy. But that does not mean that the policy is bad. There are some kinks to be worked out. They were instituted rather quickly in response to the various incidents around the country involving students and weapons brought into the school. Also, in my area, laws have been passed making the possesion of "weapons" (don't know the legal definition) on school property a crime. Thus not only does the school board exact their punishment but the courts will get involved also.

It seems to me that zero tolerence and specialized laws regarding official abuse are two different cans of the same worm - "preferential" treatment. But lets look at my example of the speeding fines. These streets have these added fines because of their location and connection to other roads. They are connector streets that go through residential neighborhoods, they have high volume traffic especially during rush hour, and constant traffic during other times. Sports officials are in a specialized location for a finite period of time why can't we have specialized protection for a finite period of time? If the courts are reluctant to impose a proper punishment on a sports official abuser, then the legislature should step in and make them do so. Whether they enact "value added" laws or just impose a zero tolerance motion for official abuse makes no difference to me.

Its unfortunate that the village has to raise the child because the parents can't or won't!

[Whowefoolin]

Are we talking about violence against "all" officials, or just about baseball officials?

OK, I doing a game. It gets a little rambungshis from the fans stand point. I think...am I doing a good job? Maybe I do suck.

OK, then it gets into insults and threats. I try to re-evaluate myself, but it does no good. The fans just won't have it. They keep on me verbally. I can take this.

Now, they start coming after me. Confronting me. Now I think, lets leave the the park and walk away. Give back my $40 and that is that.

OK, let's say I am really bull-headed and won't leave after all the signals of things getting out of hand. I have face mask. I have chest protector. I have cup. I have steel-toed shoes. Who is going to win in a battle against me and a house-wife and husband with shorts and sandals?

Common sense guys. Get out of the situation if it is deemed dangerous. The idiots are the ones getting knocked around. Probably the same ones that would go to a European soccer match!

Now if you are talking guns/knives/etc... like that. Well, that ain't just violence. That is capital A attempted murder.