Want to be Dukies!!!
 

I had a GV game at a private school last night and there were home team fans standing on the sidelines chanting on every pass of the visiting team. We ignored them most of the game until they started jogging down the sideline with the visiting team. I went to game management and told the person that they were being disruptive and needed to either sit or stand in one spot. They were having fun and not really bothering anyone, just annoying as heck!!!! Any comments?

HRA? If so, I've had their BV twice this year and those fans have been quite respectful and accomadating in my dealings with them. In fact, on sideline throw-ins one of the guys always took it upon himself to ensure everyone backed off and gave us enough room.

Well this was a girls game and they were quite pleasent and kind of funny. But we couldnt have them running up and down the sideline!!!!

Why not? Were they in your way? There is a lot of space between the sidelines and the bleachers in that gym.

It was disrupting to the game, IMO as well as my partner. Poor sportmanship.

how was it disrupting? and why poor sportsmanship? what were they saying? sounds like kids just having good clean fun making it tough on the visitors -- thats WHAT i call home field advantage

Hmmm,
 

I only thought baseball umpires were "OOO".

Regards,

I dont think running up and down the side line is good sportsmanship at all. Its very distracting to the officials as well as players and fans. Not to mention the possiblity of one of us running into them. It was really no big deal, they complied to our wishes. I was just wonder how everyone else would have handled it.

OOO? :confused:

Ooo
 

Overly Officious Official

Call it what you want, but I dont think our commissioner would have agreed with that type of stuff.

Once last statement
 

Maybe I am being anal about the situation, but this is what I found in the rule book. I believe running up and down the sidelines chanting at the visiting team qualifies for the statement in bold. Trust me, if you were there, you would agree!!!:D

SECTION 8 OFFICIALS' ADDITIONAL DUTIES
The officials shall:
ART. 1 . . . Penalize unsporting conduct by any player, coach, substitute, team attendant or follower.
NOTE: The home management or game committee is responsible for spectator behavior, insofar as it can reasonably be expected to control the spectators. The officials may call fouls on either team if its supporters act in such a way as to interfere with the proper conduct of the game. Discretion must be used in calling such fouls, however, lest a team be unjustly penalized. When team supporters become unruly or interfere with the orderly progress of the game, the officials shall stop the game until the host management resolves the situation and the game can proceed in an orderly manner. In the absence of a designated school representative, the home coach shall serve as the host management.

but you said they werent unruly or interfereing -- if its the same gym you and bad news are talking about then how will you run into them? and how are they distracting you? I just dont see it sorry -- maybe i am missing a detail -- but if you saw fit then fine but I agree from what I have read here that this is a case of being OOO -- my 2 cents.

being annoying is not illeagle and its not for you to be the social police -- disrespectful, crude, vulgar -- yes -- annoying no.

1 aside --

couple years ago I was working a BJV game with a certain female official -- during warm ups the gym had the usual type of loud pop/hiphop music on and my partner didnt like the music. She starts ranting and raving that they should turn it down if not off and goes to the table to complain about the music -- I told her it really wasnt our place to be telling them to turn the music down or off and she insisted that it was -- well the BV coach is very active in the world of basketball and even comes in to our meetings to field questions from us as to what the heck coaches are thinking and we in turn hear some of his gripes. about 30 seconds in to her rant and rave about how horrible the music is and it should be turned off he cuts her off and says "If you dont like it then leave and I have no problem your partner working the game by himself." -- now she has put us is a very difficult position - WHAT CAN WE DO? NOTHING -- that was where I really learned that as an official there are some things we have no control over and should not try and exert it because all we dug was a hole. My partner had to tuck tail turn and walk back to the other side of the gym teed off -- and it showed the whole game -- i had her again later in the year and I respectfully turned that game back.

the point is -- from what you said I think you were imposing your likes and dislikes on the game rather that officiating -- unless fans interrupt a game or are way out of line I allow them to be FANS -- this sounds like harmless fun -- just my 2 cents once again and I disagree with what you did but thats fine -- part of it is not agreeing all the time with everyone

I should have added until they started running up and down the sidelines and chanting. But, I guess it was my judgement and you had to have been there. Thanks for all of the insight in this matter.

I think that you made a big deal out of nothing.
The only action that I would have been concerned with is if these fans wanted to run down the sideline, turn the corner, and jump up and down and make noise behind the basket while the opponent was shooting FTs. Even then, I would only have moved them back to the side of the court if there were no bleachers behind the basket for them to sit/stand in. No being on the court on either endline.

I had a sort of similar situation in baseball. I work one team that has their dugout up and yelling on every play of every inning. They do nothing but yell encouragement at their own players. I'll admit after a full inning it is as annoying as anything I've been around, but certainly not usporting. One time when I had them, there was a big commotion in their dugout and I could tell something was wrong. I walked over and asked the coach and evidently a fan went into their dugout and told them to be quiet. Since I didn't actually see the fan do it I didn't eject him (he stepped in through a door in the back of the dugout). I told the coach and players that I agreed with the fan that they were annoying, but there was nothing in the rules that said they couldn't cheer for their team anytime they wanted. :D

Very true, so here is an ill eagle:

http://ethicscrisis.com/sick_bird.jpg

lol i knew that was going to be commented on once i hit submit

i believe that is actually a duck:D just bein a SA

That's how ill he is. You can't even tell he's an eagle! :)

I'm with the OP. I have very sensitive periphrial (sp?) vision. Having fans running on the sideline would be very distracting to me. I sometimes even get startled by mascots painted on the floor. Fans belong in the stands and we aren't playing until they get there.

I've never been in a gym where there would be room for this kind of fol-de-rol. I'd have done as OP in any game I've ever had.

Well fortunately, this school is a private school and a full size Field House with lots of room to spare. They even have a practice gym!!!

Chanting too?:eek:

Ah, the humanity, the humanity......

You knew better than that. All sports have 'em. Obviously.

IREFU2 is a good friend of mine and an outstanding official and partner, but he's very serious on the court and is not as appreciative of the amusing sideline entertainment as I am. Of course, non of us were there so only his and his partner's judgement count as to whether or not the fans this day were a detriment to the game and the safety of the crew and players.

That being said...The gymnasium in question is best HS facility I ever seen or worked in. The school is the private institution where the local rich, powerful, and politically-connected send their children so there was plenty of money poured into this building.

It's a full 94' basketball court that has a 2' restraining border encompassing the court. Baseline side nearest the entrance it's at least 10' from the outer edge of the restraining border to the wall. The opposite baseline where the home cheerleaders congregate it's about 15'-20' from the outer edge of the restraining border to the wall. Tableside, the bleachers are 6-8 feet behind the benches. On the far sidelines opposite the benches it is at least 8ft from the bleachers to the outer edge of the restraining border. There is plenty of room around the entire court to hold a parade if that's what they wanted to do.

Sh!t, even the the official's changing room is outstanding. You enter through the AD's lounge (yes, lounge, his office is a separate room within the lounge). The locker room has about 10 lockers in a U-shape with a bench in the middle plus 2 individual chairs. Clean shower (with fixed and removable shower heads), clean toilet, clean urinal, and extra space for stretching.

Oh, I forgot to mention the best thing about this school. It's 10-15 minutes from my job and 10-15 minutes from my house. It's right off the interstate exit and also only 5 minutes from my kids house. I love it when I see that school on my schedule.

There's a big difference between being serious and being an OOO. One of the differences is worrying about the fans chanting, unless the chant happens to be obscene or racial in nature, or sumthin' like that.

Anyone even thinking about calling this one should run it by his supervisor first to get their opinion. You don't want to be "that guy"- the only official ever to worry about what the crowd is doing in this particular gym. If all of the other officials going in there don't have a problem with the crowd, then fuggedaboutit. You're just trying to impose your own personal standards, instead of simply following the norm. Jmo.

Okay, time to lay this dog to rest. This didnt happen in the first game which was a JV game. I wasnt impossing my own personal standards and in both my opinion and my partners too, we felt that running up and down the court with the opposing team was unruly and interfering with the orderly progress of the game. The players both home and away were getting distracted. Now, if the majority thinks that you can continue a game with such antics, then that is the majorities opinion. I rather take the chance of being frowned on for stopping such antics instead of doing nothing and getting a phone call later. I think we should close this thread. The horse has been beat to death.

of course this isnt going to happen during a JV game, because its a JV game...

how did this interfere with the orderly progress? -- how were the players getting distracted? -- this sounds like you are trying to justify a position most here disagree with

if you just say we did it because we felt it was the right thing to do and we wanted to -- then fine -- I honestly dont have see anything wrong with what you did if what you say about disruption and orderly progress and what not. however I do not see that -- were they in the way of throw ins, were they harrasing the team verbally (and I dont mean funny chants, I mean harrasing), were they threatning anyone. I just would like clarification because I dont ever get to work in a gym with that much space and should this happen from what I read I dont see much I can do or would do about it -- but any extra light could help should this ever come up

Okay, if you have 15 or so fan running down the court opposite the table, chanting bounce, bounce(evertime the ball is bounced) and then pass, pass (everytime the ball is being passed), then shot, shot (on every shot) by the visiting team, you dont have a problem with that? It is distracting to the table, the teams as well as the officials. I am not trying to justify anything because I did what I felt was correct and actually people in the stands clapped and the fack dukies appologized for their actions. I hope this brings the light on for you.

Okay, if you have 15 or so fans running down the court opposite the table, chanting bounce, bounce(evertime the ball is bounced) and then pass, pass (everytime the ball is being passed), then shot, shot (on every shot) by the visiting team, you dont have a problem with that? It is distracting to the table, the teams as well as the officials. I am not trying to justify anything because I did what I felt was correct and actually people in the stands clapped and the fake dukies appologized for their actions. I hope this brings the light on for you.

thats fine -- i actually think thats funny and great -- but then again i dont see a problem with this type of enthusiasm -- now which people in the stands clapped -- i will bet you it was the visiting teams fans.

Both sides clapped, I guess the show was getting old for everyone!!!

I guess the question would be then why are you policing the fans when it doesnt have anything to do with the game -- sounds like the fans should have compalined to management and they should have taken care of it -- thats all

I just DONT see why the official involvement -- but then again I really get in the zone and I DO tend to miss somethings that I should hear but its just an old habit from shooting free throws -- its just me and the court.

Personally, no, unless they actually interfere with the game somehow. And again, personally, I don't think that they are interfering with play when they do this.

And "chanting" should never be a factor. Fans chant. Nothing the matter with it, especially when it's something as innocent as chanting "bounce, bounce" or "pass, pass".

Okay, maybe we do things different in VA. and its clear that our judgement is not the same and thats okay, so lets just leave it as a judgement call on my behalf and end this thread. I will bring it up at our meeting in Feb and get some clarification. But if I had to do it again, I would and will.

when i read that post about what they were doing it and I got a mental image I laughed -- I think its great and humorous. In fact in this game it would probably put a smile on my fact the first couple of times and get old fast -- but what the heck after all we always claim its for the kids -- when in reality its NOT. (remember I dont care for the kids). I wish when I was in HS we had these types of fans -- wait yes we did

I love when people come on here, post something, and then get defensive when others say they could've handled it differently. Pulling out the rule book to find something that allows you to do something? Weak, weak.

Not defensive at all. Just when people post, they need to remember that they werent there nor that their judgement may have warranted a different outcome. Its all love baby......as BadNew would say. BTW, the rule book is there to be enforced, not to back up what I did or didnt do.

See my comment on the Blarge in the blarge post.

See my comments in the blarge post also. I deleted the posts. They were mistakenly made and I have apologized to both parties.

No problem.....apology accepted!!!!