Coaches/Captains sell out by the R
 

Help me out here. I am working a Varsity girls game. R is a veteran official. During warm ups both teams have 4 different colored hair wraps.( This is a POE for our Association this year. We were informed to enforce this,period) So I mentioned to the R that I have 11 players, one has an illegal knee brace, and we need to address the hair wrap issue.
He states " the knee brace is hard plastic with metal, what's wrong with that? They're all made like that? And we'll give them a warning for the hair wrap, I'm not gonna enforce it tonite.
My response " the knee brace is illegal and it's the 7th game of the season for these teams, so we get to be selective on what we enforce with illegal uniforms?"
We got to coaches captain meeting and the R does his "speel" he then says "Coaches I know the ladies are not properly equipted tonite, J please explain the headband/uniform rule". Being caught off guard, I explained " dominant uniform color,black,white, or tan".
He then says" Coaches now that you know this, this is going to upset J, but consider this a warning for tonite, you need to be in proper uniform by next game".
So as we leave the meeting I ask" why did you bring it up if you're not going to enforce it?"
His comment " so they know for next time".
I feel the veteran sold me out to the coaches and put me on the spot. Give me feedback? I'm pretty ticked about it still.

It's not just your association's POE, it's a Fed POE.

As far as your partner, yes, I would be PO'd too. I've never done it before but if I were you I'd call my assignor and request not to work with this guy anymore. "So they know next time", which means "Let someone else decide if they want to enforce it or not".

yeah imo that was uncalled for, and by the sound of it, your partner was a bit condescending in his coaches meeting.

i'm a first year official and thankfully the assignor is also my mentor, so if anyone pulls a fastball like that, guess who's getting a phone call right after that game ;)

You definitely got hosed by your partner. Hair wraps are one thing, but you're both setting yourselves up for some serious liability if that player with the illegal knee brace gets hurt or hurts somebody else. I agree that a call to your assignor is probably the best way to go. Best case, the assignor calls the other official and tells them how they should handle illegal uniforms/equipment when they officiate in his leagues. But at the very least, you could probably ask to not work with them again.

If I am responsible for counting players and checking equipment I take care of it as I see issues. Warm-ups are long enough that when each girl came by with illegal headwear I just say it has to go. No different than the multiple livestrong braclets kids wear on the court. Then you have taken care of your responsibilty without the opportunity for the referee to set aside rules he chooses. my .02 cents

OK, I get that you are PO at your partner. You definetly have reason to

be. But....if your partner the R says hes not going to enforce the rules,

then go to the girls during warmup say "can I see your brace" if illegal, take

it off.... Hair wraps the same way. If your partner gets mad at you for

doing your job...oh well!! he will get over it. I would love to hear the phone

call to an assignor about you!! "Yeah!.. but he was doing my job and I got

pissed thats why I called" Just my humble opinion though..:)

Not much you can do other than to express your feelings to him.

I'm going to confess I did something similar a few weeks ago that I regret.

I'm the R and we are all set for the tip............."blue this way, white this way" ready to toss and suddenly the jarring horn from the table and scorer is calling me over. One team had their numbers completely wrong in book, wrong starters, wrong everything. As a crew we huddle, I say great way to start a game with a technical, U1 says let's pass and start the game, U2 frowns and I can tell wants to do the right thing and T them up. I pass on it.

I'll never do that again. And I'm going to apologize to U2.

It doesn't matter, but it was a very lopsided game, with two weak teams. Coaches never asked what was happening, almost to the point of indifference. That said, it wasn't right.

There, I said it and I feel better.

Your partner was a jerk and threw you under the bus! As soon as he asked you to explain or whatever, you should have took the pregame meeting over.

Someone else mentioned it, but you should have just told the girls to take off the illegal headbands. Being the fashion police is getting pretty old, but it is what it is.

Being the R doesn't make one the decider on which rules are going to be followed or ignored. I'd tell the kids to take off the illegal equipment regardless of what that guy said.

(As the R I also can't imagine trying to be like this knowing I need my partners to have my back for the entire game.)

Rich, I'm assuming you quoted me because you agree with what I said because I agree with what you are saying. I hope I didn't say something that might be taken the wrong way.

I was just agreeing with you. Sorry for not being clear.

Chris,
everything is good except what is in BOLD. I personally would not use that verbiage.

I say something along the lines of: I see you have an illegal knee brace on, either cover the metal hinges with the sleeve or you will not be able to play.

Or, Out Of My Keyboard ...
 

truerookie: You took the words right out of my mouth.

I believe no one can be harder on yourself then yourself about this so its all good.

Having said that I'm in the U2's spot ALOT.

Rant ON ::::

Why is there so much concern about enforcing the rules, its like I'm working for the UN, everybody's concerned about everything except the rules. I am just starting my Varsity part of this whole deal and the excuses from the other officials for not taking care of pregame dunks, wrong numbers in the books, coaches behaving badly, etc is just beyond appalling. And this coming from someone who spent lots of time in mosh pits. :)

If i have a partner call and apologize i would fall on the floor in convulsions and work the rest of the year for free, maybe.

Takes a big man to admit when you were wrong and apologize-my hat is off to you.:cool:

I really didnt mean to say that to girls, what I meant was to have them take it off. "or sleeve it". Just worded it wrong I guess.....

Why didn't you take care of the hair bands yourself? It is just as much your job as the R's. When the warm ups are going on just tell the players that are in violation that they will have to remove them in order to play. TAKE CARE OF THE THINGS YOU HAVE DIRECT CONTROL OVER! The R is not the sole member of the fashion gustopo.

Don't be to concerned with your partner selling you out, he gave you an opportunity to step up and you did it even when you weren't really expecting it. He did it and inadvertantly made himself look stupid for not addressing it. You should've ended the informational meeting with, "the players that have nonconforming bands will not be allowed to play until they conform." That now takes it out of R's hands and he has no room to waiver because both coaches have been informed, and at worst, one of them will force the issue.

Since it is a POE, and partner said he wasn't going to enforce it, you can only mention it to the assignor and see how he wants to handle it.

I agree... tell the girl to cover the exposed hinges...(only thing that has to be done by rule), I'll bet the team has an oversleeve...

That being said... I learned this in football I had never though about....

If the referee will not enforce a liability potential safety rule, pull the R aside and tell him that you want a signed statement that states he has made a rule decision on not enforcing a saftey rule, and that he assumes all liability from the actions resulting from his rule interpretation, and that he understands you advised him to not allow the safety issue and against the advice, he absolves you of all liability.

May not stand up in court but he'll get the point....

I had a situation in football where the note supposed to be signed by a MD or DO was signed by a PA. Told the referee and he made all sorts of justifications on why a PA is just as qualified as a MD...
1) I will not work with the guy again and 2) I will not work with him again and 3) i wont subject myself to that liability without covering my butt somehow and take all reasonable steps

If the team YOU are responsible for has the pre-wrap issue, you go to the coach of that team and address it BEFORE the coaches & captains meeting. Same thing with the brace. Same thing with illegal undershirts. The coach will take care of it.

Contacting your assignor is a good idea as well. Chances are that you are not the only guy in the asociation with tire tread marks on your back.

Badges? We don't need no stinkin' Fashion Police badges!
 

We don't have that much power. We're only the fashion police.

There are a lot of officials who don't want to start a game with technical fouls or generally don't want to "get their hands dirty." As you keep officiating, you may find these are the same officials who conveniently don't hear unsporting comments, don't see unsporting acts and want to avoid conflict that should be taken care of.

j2u4now:

I want to start with your meeting with the coaches. Your partner is a "Grade A Schmuck" and at halftime I would have kicked his tuchus around the dressing room of the seven minutes we were in there. As someone who has spent many years on constuctions sites to tell you that I have a lot of other things that I could call him but some of them are including in George Carlin's Seven Words You Can't Say On The Radio and all of them cannot be used in polite society. The one thing I will say is that he is not a horse's rear end because that would be insuting to the two horses that my wife and I have owned.

Regarding the hair wraps, I think that most of us old geezers will agree with me that we really are getting tired of being fashion police. I will be honest with you, Mark, Jr. and I had a Jr. H.S. assignment earlier this month where the girls of one team wore different colored wrist bands and none of the colors were white, black, or the dominant color of the jersey and some wore regular head bands while some wore different colored pre-wrap. This was a school that barely had enough girls in the district to field both 7th and 8th grade teams. Did we care? No. BUT, when I officiate a game at the freshmen level and above I start to take the rules seriously, even though I dislike with great instensity being a fashion policeman.

Staying with the hair wrap subject (as well as wrist bands, illegal t-shirts, jewelry, etc.), the instant I see player(s) on the team for which I am resposible watching during warm-ups, I go to him/them and inform him/them of the problem and tell him/them that I cannot make him/them rectify the problem but that he/they cannot play unless the problem has been rectified.

Regarding the knee brace. Why was it illegal? I am hard pressed to remember (basically because it was probably during the peach basket era of basketball and I am a senile old geezer according to my sons and BillyMar, :D) the last time I saw a player with an knee brace that did not meet the safety requirements of the rules. BUT safety rules can NEVER be ignored. When safety rules are ignored the entire officiating crew (even if you can prove that you told the R and he said he was not going to enforce the rule) is considered negligent if someone gets hurt because the rule was ignored.

What does the last sentence of the previous paragraph mean? You have to decide if you if you are going to force the issue with your partner. That means are you are willing to walk off the court and not officiate the game because he is refusing to enforce a safety rule, especially if you are a less experienced official working with a so-called veteran official. I know that is a difficult decision to make because I threatened the center official in a boys' H.S. soccer game with that exact situation if he did not enforce the NFHS jewelry rule. As a soccer official I was the least experienced official on the crew, but I had officiated H.S. basketball for more years than my two partners had been officiating soccer together. I told him that I would walk off the field and inform the home school AD (it was the home team players that were wearing the jewelry); I would then go home and immediately send an email to OhioHSAA informing the of the situation. That got his attention immediately and he did the correct thing. BUT, no one has ever accused me of being a meek and mild person.

MTD, Sr.

You said that with muy mucho gusto!

I would leave.
 

"Coaches, This is going to upset R, but because he is taking that position and knowingly not going to enforce the rules, I can't put myself in jeopardy by working this contest. Have a nice game." Exit, pursued by a bear.

Agreed.

Peace

I was going to say as a comeback to his pregame... " I know this will upset Mr R but I'm going enforce the all the rules since I don't which ones he wants to go ala carte on."

I would not stoop to the level of this official. You should still keep your professionalism. Work the game and move on. And if it bothers you that much, talk to the assignor. You are assigned the game because someone felt you were going to work the game, not because you have to agree with everything a partner is going to do.

Peace

It's not a matter of stooping to his level. It's a matter of protecting myself. For liability reasons I would never work a contest in which a player was knowingly allowed to wear illegal equipment.

I doubt the color of the head band is a liability concern. :rolleyes:

Peace

The illegal knee brace is. :p

And that prevents you from telling the player to remove the knee brace? I must have missed the football like rules that only requires one official to judge the legality of player equipment. ;)

Peace

If the U believes that the knee brace is illegal, but the R says it is okay which official makes the decision? :eek:

There are more case law on contracts than official's liablity.
 

You are assuming he is going to disagree with your decision to the point he would allow a player to not follow the rule. If I understood the OP, the R just did not know this was illegal, he did not say let it go. And the R gave the U1 the floor during the captain's meeting to explain the rule and walking off or saying what you have suggested does none of that. If you are worried about liability or being sued, someone might sue you because you did not allow the player to use an illegal device. There is nothing saying someone cannot or will not sue you if that is your major concern. If you are also overruled on applying the rule properly, then that puts you in a much better legal position than someone that just turned the other cheek.

Now if you walk off, you could be held responsible for not complying with a contract. And if you walk off what is to say you cannot be sued for someone getting hurt and you decided to leave over a disagreement.

Also this issue about liability is kind of overblown. I read from a lawyer that once said the only case that is known of an official being held liable for actions, involved lightning and took place outside. They claimed that there had not been a case where officials were ever held liable for sports rules not being applied or judgment. Considering how I have never read of such a ruling in the multiple sports or officiating publications, I think this entire issue or "liability" is silly when not only do we have protection from such action with most licenses, that the cost of that insurance would be much higher if successful judgments against officials were happening left and right.

The bottom line, work the game and do what you can to apply the rule. Doing otherwise takes away your credibility to bring the issue to light. And in my experience the assignor would likely get rid of the official that left the game, rather than the guy that did not apply a simple rule.

Peace

Rut:

If the U walked off the court because the R refused to enforce a safety rule, I do not see how the U could be accused of not honoring a game contract. By signing the contract the U is agreeing that he will conduct the game according to the rules of the game. And since his first responsibily is the safety of the contestants, refusing to officiate a game where the safety rules are not being enforced should be seen as honoring the contract. The school with whome he as the contract may not be required to pay him but if they do not he would have a very good case for recovering his game fee and other associated expenses from the R becase he is the party that did not honor his contract by enforcing the game rules as required by the contract. Ethical conduct by the U will trump the unethical conduct by the R.

MTD, Sr.