When to step in?

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by hooper
Here's a situation I saw recently in a junior high game:

Team A's coach and fans are riding the refs throughout the first half. In the second half, the ref addresses the fans about their behavior. Moments later, ref calls a foul on Team B and Team A's coach says "That's it. Fouled out!" The scorer's table says no, one more foul before fouling out. (Scorer's table is run by parents and volunteers from home team, which is Team B.) Coach approaches scorer's table and begins to argue. Fan (and relative of scorekeeper) from Team B comes to aid of scorekeepers. Team A's coach gets up into Team B's fan's face and says he'll see him in the parking lot after the game. Refs ignore and continue game.

What would you have done?

I woulda stopped the team A coach from riding me as soon as he started. He sureashell wouldn't have been doing it "throughout the first half". If he's getting away with that nonsense, of course he thinks that he can also get in a scorer's face, incite the crowd, etc without worrying about anything happening. It turned out that he was right too- obviously and unfortunately.

It sounds to me like you either had newer officials who were very unsure of themselves on this game, or officials who were lacking in...um...testicular fortitude.