Umps, Referees Facing Threats ...

[BillyMac]

Sports Officials Looking For New Law, Penalties To Provide Protection

By The Hartford Courant

For sports referees and umpires in Connecticut, threats and attacks by fans, players and even coaches has become so prevalent that some say the state is overdue to beef up laws to stop them.
“It gets ugly out there, and it’s not right,” said Barry Chasen, an umpire for youth and recreation leagues who has been calling balls and strikes for 59 years.
“I don’t know exactly why it got like this, but these are adults and parents. People started taking it too seriously. Maybe people can’t deal with adversity,” said Chasen, a Simsbury resident. “They’re making (physical) contact with umpires or referees”
Even though the General Assembly is in the middle of a short session, Chasen and some other Connecticut sports officials are hoping this will be the year they break legislators’ longstanding refusal to pass a new law — or even a harsher penalty — against assaulting referees and umpires.
Chasen is working with three state lawmakers — Rep. Michelle Cook, D-Torrington; Rep. Melissa Osborne, D-Simsbury, and Sen. Lisa Seminara, R-Simsbury — to build support. He’d favor stiffer penalties for anyone convicted of assaulting a sports official during or immediately after a game, and notes that more than 20 other states have adopted some form of extra punishment.
Previous attempts in Connecticut dating back as far as 2006 have failed, with legislators saying they’re concerned about creating too many special classes of crime victims receiving extra protection — particularly since the attackers already face serious consequences for an assault conviction.
For instance, the defendant in a 2022 assault at an eighth-grade after-school youth football game faces a felony charge. A 32-year-year old man is accused of slamming a football helmet against the victim’s head, knocking him unconscious.
The victim was a coach, not an umpire, but the same law would have applied: The alleged attacker, Christopher Polk, is charged with second-degree assault, a Class D felony.
Sports officials, however, contend that attacks — and the far more common problem, threat of violence — should draw a special penalty. Osborne agreed.
“There has been an idea that ‘an assault is an assault is an assault,” Osborne said. “But assault on particular type of person for their role can impact detrimentally on the profession or position.”
Connecticut had sustained a loss of sports officials even before the Covid pandemic, and the situation has worsened since.
Clasen noted that concern about personal safety is one of the top reasons that umpires and referees cite when they quit, he said.
Four years ago, the CIAC Officials Association wrote an open letter to Connecticut umpires and referees pledging to “support your efforts to enact legislation to further protect sports officials and emphasize to schools the importance of having a plan to ensure the safety of game officials.”
A study by the National Association of Sports Officials shows that 22 other states have either a specially designated criminal charge or an enhanced penalty for attacks against umpires and referees.
Florida, for instance, upgrades charges against an assault defendant when the victim is a referee or umpire.
The charge of aggravated battery, usually a second-degree felony, is raised to a first-degree felony in such cases. Aggravated assault is elevated from a third-degree felony to a second-degree.
Chasen said sports officials are looking for lawmakers to show their support.
“They can show they care about our safety and our well-being,” he said.

[ChuckS]

I don't mind these laws, to stiffen the penalties. But they don't act as a deterrent. Anyone who attacks an official most likely will not know about the law, and even if they did, such an attack is a spur of the moment thing - they are not thinking rationally anyway.

An attacker already knows they could face charges for assault. A stiffer penalty won't stop an attacker.

[FlasherZ]

Similar to ChuckS, I don't think that yet another law will really change behavior - it's already illegal to attack another official physically and I doubt that in the moment it crosses their minds. I wouldn't argue if they pass it, but I also don't think it will be all that effective.

I've been left thinking about this pretty extensively, and from a lot of different sides, trying to play devil's advocate. What has been causing the uptick?

Selfishness of players? Personality types changing for officials over past few years? People just angrier these days / political landscape? "Win at all costs" attitudes for schools / administrators? Less accountability for officials (e.g., where assignors aren't used and AD's will grab anyone with a patch)? General lack of public accountability because other minor crimes are no longer punished (shoplifting, etc.)?

What can we do to help combat this type of behavior? Be tougher? Show that we're human / not infallible more often? Make ejected players/coaches/fans fill out a report explaining their behavior before being allowed to attend again?

[TheMac]

The thing is even if it doesn't deter someone from doing this - I wouldn't expect anyone so stupid to know the punishment for being so stupid - it at least keeps them out of society. Maybe then others would fall in line? I doubt it but it's worth a shot!

[Texas Aggie]

Originally Posted by FlasherZ

What can we do to help combat this type of behavior?

There's one, and one thing only: stop working games.

Now, you may not have to altogether quit, but you essentially encourage what you tolerate and it won't stop. They don't fear penalties at the site; they don't fear suspensions because even if those aren't reversed, they're forgotten about. The only thing they fear, it seems, is no games.

I've told my colleagues for years that we have the power but for whatever reason, we're unwilling to use it. STOP going to schools/sites with a history of bad behavior; STOP working with/for assignors who won't support you when you report such behavior; STOP working with co-officials who don't enforce the behavior rules; and STOP allowing more money to "buy" your cooperation.

MLB and NBA allows their players to denigrate umpires and officials because of the "show" factor, but either they don't realize or they don't care about the effect it has on lower level sports. Colleges don't allow as much abuse, but assignors and conference supervisors don't let officials make the calls that are necessary, and thus the same effect happens. While sidelines are largely clear in college football, college basketball coaches set a poor example for their HS counterparts. HS football coaches don't notice the sidelines on Saturday, but still see the assistants screaming at the officials.

Taking a stand ALWAYS involves a cost. If you're not willing to absorb that cost, don't complain about it.

[JamesBCrazy]

Originally Posted by Texas Aggie

There's one, and one thing only: stop working games.

This is only a good solution if the other officials in your area are willing to back you up. If not, you're just out of a job and you've accomplished nothing. The "trouble" schools will just replace you with a fresh-faced newbie and the cycle of abuse repeats.

The only way out of the loop is to prevent it from happening in the first place. If it's coaches or players causing the problem, it can be directly addressed with gameplay consequences (in basketball, a technical foul,) but if it's fans the only thing we can do is get game management to remove them, knowing that they'll probably be back for the next game a few days later to do the same thing again.

[ChuckS]

Originally Posted by Texas Aggie

I've told my colleagues for years that we have the power but for whatever reason, we're unwilling to use it.

I received a text recently that I had never seen before - a request for officials with this included "Name your price". Which means we may have more power than we think.