At what point do you acknowledge fans/parents?

[WhistlesAndStripes]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

At the point which I ask game management to remove them. Until then I ignore them.

What he said.

[WhistlesAndStripes]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

I heard the "I am blind, I am deaf. . ." chant over the weekend. That was fun.

How does the rest of it go?

[Mark Padgett]

SeanFitzRef, just curious as to what part of Chicago are you from? I grew up on the South Side - obviously a White Sox fan.

[rgncjn]

Last year I tossed a parent from a Wreck league game. You know the type, obnoxious, and unhappy that his son is not "getting the calls." As it turns out, his son and my sister are in the same grade (7th, this year). Actually, the two are very good friends.

I had the oppurtunity to have dinner with this fellow on Sunday. Not a dinner date, but more of a Sunday afternoon football party.

The first thing out of the guy's mouth when I walked in was, "Are you still mad at me?"

I replied with, "I was never mad at you. I was just tired of hearing your nonsense. I don't come to your work and pretend to be an expert at your vocation, so why did you try and do that with me?"

Stumped, this guy could not find anything to say back. Finally he conjured up, "I never thought about it that way. To be honest with you, ever since you threw me out of that game, I developed an entirely new respect for officials."

We'll see if he holds true to this statement. This year he is coaching a team in the league.

[archangel]

Last saturday, doing 2nd of 4 games of 5th grade boys school ball (1st game for teams), saw something I've never seen....
League rules are no pressing until 4th Qtr, or ahead by 10 pts,---- home team up 15+ in the 4th, visitors press and home team crowd complaining about that. Several transitions with home crowd yelling ea time. Finally at a timeout, game mngmt -sitting at the table, stands, walks to center court and loudly addresses all on that rule.....

[Husker John]

At times we all react to calls. As a coach/player/fan and official we all have different angles on the same play. We can't possibly see the things the otherone does. We can react. Disappointment, disagreement whatever, but it should never cross the line to becoming personal.

At the risk of preaching to the choir, officials shouldn't have to take that. When attacks become personal, it demonstrates incredible immaturity. I coached an 8th grade girls team last year and I can tell you that even the most competitive girl playing at this age is there to socialize as much as win. Watch them after them game. I am sure that the kids get incredibly embarrased when they realize its their parents doing this.

If this is a team you have to officiate for again, I would suggest that during the pregame the officials approach both coaches to watch for this and ask for their assistance controlling the crowd if necessary. You can tell that problems have occured in the league recently and we want to nip this in the bud (they don't need to know that it was their team).

[Texas Aggie]

Honestly, I don't care what's said. If they start interfering with the game, they'll be out of there, and fast. I've had games where either the school or the police got fans out long before I ever would have.

One time I had a playoff game where a kid goes out of bounds chasing a loose ball. He stepped on the line before touching the ball, so I call OOB, but he ends up in the stands. Most of the fans sitting around protect themselves and everything's OK, but one idiot, who wasn't even touched by this kid, gets up and basically gets in his face and says something. I was sort of shocked since we hadn't had any trouble all night, but the kid's first reaction to level this guy was stopped by a teammate (and me as soon as I figured out what was happening). On my way over to the table to get someone to get this guy out of there, I looked back over my shoulder to get a better description and this cop (with arms and shoulders as big as Iowa) is on him. I stop and watch while this cop gets rid of the guy and we play on.

A few minutes later we had a time out or something and I see the cop near the baseline where I am. I walked over and said, "hey, man, thanks for the help on that guy." He looked at me and said, "you're my man!"

[Husker John]

We are all compilation of our own circumstances. In any 7/8 grade game I have been to has not had officers their to enforce the peace. Unfortunately, I am aware that this is not the case everywhere.

In the original case described in this thread there may be other resources that sometimes help. In addition, officials that have far more game experience would take other actions.

Like I said in my last response in no case should an official have to take the kind of verbal abuse that was given. In your description, there should never, ever be the kind of physical contact that you described. I am glad that I have never coached in, nor my kids played in that kind of environment.

One final note, this last fall in our middle school age football league, there was a point of emphasis from the league for the coaches to control the sidelines including the fans. Twice, I felt that our fans had continued their yelling beyond what I was comfortable with. Each time I walked onto the field and looked at the fans and said enough. Both times the fans calmed down and each time, I was thanked by the officials afterward.

It can work sometimes, but not in all. I hope you don't face too many environments like you described.

[dave30]

Bribe a kid to throw a bad pass REAL HARD in the direction of the worst offender.

[rainmaker]

Had a freshman girls game, total blow out (V losing), 9 fans in the whole gym including two obnoxious boys who were really razzing one visiting player who was somewhat overweight. Comments not loud, but very comprehensible and absolutely offensive.

The player was getting rattled. No game management in sight. Home coach not even noticing. Partner wasn't willing to address the situation. Middle of second quarter, I went over to stands and said in my most mother bear voice, "You idiots!! Either shut up or get out!" I'm big and loud, but not usually very aggressive or confrontive so I wasnt sure how it would go over, but they got up and left in a hurry.

When AD finally showed his face again, I just reported what I'd done. He asked me to come outside and identify the boys, who were in fact, still standing around!! He talked to them and kicked them off the property.

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by rainmaker

... and said in my most mother bear voice, "You idiots!! Either shut up or get out!"

Would that work on some posters here?

[Adam]

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

Would that work on some posters here?

Nah, it's been tried.

[mj]

I learned many years ago that if you are going to acknowledge parents/fans at all be very careful. I was doing a Middle School girl's tournament game and the visiting fans/parents thought they were getting the shaft on some calls. After one such call, I told them "we'll do the refereeing now thank you". One parent yells back, "Yeah when are you gonna start?"

After that I learned to be very choosy what if anything you say to the crowd.

[ChrisSportsFan]

Originally Posted by mj

I learned many years ago that if you are going to acknowledge parents/fans at all be very careful. I was doing a Middle School girl's tournament game and the visiting fans/parents thought they were getting the shaft on some calls. After one such call, I told them "we'll do the refereeing now thank you". One parent yells back, "Yeah when are you gonna start?"
After that I learned to be very choosy what if anything you say to the crowd.

"Now and good-bye to you, Sir"

[buckrog64]

Usually barking with the fans is a losing situation. If it's that bad, toss someone, and keep tossing people until they get the message. Make damn sure they deserve it though. I hate to punish the players because their fans are jerks, but sometimes if you get picky on stuff and you call fouls that are truly fouls but at other times you might have let them go, then sometimes a message can be sent and hopefully received.