Official in stands yelling

[Adam]

Originally Posted by grunewar

Yeah, be diplomatic.....I have a "hypothetical situation" I was wondering how you guys would handle it.....

Exactly!

[StripesOhio]

I absolutely would be diplomatic. I might even ignore him and ask it in a round-about way.

Such as:

"Say, I'm curious what opinions in this room are of other officials sitting in the stands and be overly vocal."

I don't know that I'd put him directly on the spot. I'll talk to the secretary and let him handle it. Or, I may personally walk up to the guy and just simply say that next time he's at a game I'm doing I'll eject him if he's riding me from the stands.

[26 Year Gap]

Originally Posted by StripesOhio

I absolutely would be diplomatic. I might even ignore him and ask it in a round-about way.

Such as:

"Say, I'm curious what opinions in this room are of other officials sitting in the stands and be overly vocal."

I don't know that I'd put him directly on the spot. I'll talk to the secretary and let him handle it. Or, I may personally walk up to the guy and just simply say that next time he's at a game I'm doing I'll eject him if he's riding me from the stands.

That is like baiting a coach telling him one more word and it is a T. It should come as a shock to him not as something he prepares for.

[representing]

You know, after reading some of your responses, I feel lucky. I first started officiating about 6 years ago and this was the same season my sister played on the varsity team as a Freshman. Anytime I was watching games I would be a screamer with my fellow fan-mates. The worse I got was just my fellow officials coming up to me (during meetings or at the bar) and saying "hey, knock it off".

I'm not a screamer anymore, and I still go to my sister's colleges games. If I see something that I disagree with, I keep my mouth shut. I also no longer sit by anyone who I know is a screamer, just so I won't get the influence to scream again. But I will say this much. Looking back, I would've deserved to write a letter, get suspended, or any of the other penalties that has been listed in these replies.

Stripes, if I was in your situation, I would definitely report it to your local association's president, and write a letter to your state's office.

[Adam]

At this stage, if you see it again at your game, have him removed and then send the appropriate communication to your association leadership.

[biggravy]

During the meeting

Originally Posted by StripesOhio

I absolutely would be diplomatic. I might even ignore him and ask it in a round-about way.

Such as:

"Say, I'm curious what opinions in this room are of other officials sitting in the stands and be overly vocal."

After the meeting

Originally Posted by StripesOhio

I may personally walk up to the guy and just simply say that next time he's at a game I'm doing I'll eject him if he's riding me from the stands.

[StripesOhio]

So, had the association meeting last night.

Brought it up with the secretary and he laughed....third time this week he's heard from somebody about this guy. He brought it up in meeting and everybody knew who he was talking about.

This guy was NOT in attendance.

The secretary emphasized being respectful to the brethren of officials. He also said that any action we deemed necessary to correct it is acceptable.

Not the aggressive approach I wanted to hear but a good start. He said he would send an email out about respecting others and such. So we will see how it goes. But for me personally, it's zero tolerance. At least I do have the backing of my association secretary.

[grunewar]

Originally Posted by StripesOhio

So, had the association meeting last night.

Brought it up with the secretary and he laughed....third time this week he's heard from somebody about this guy. He brought it up in meeting and everybody knew who he was talking about.

This guy was NOT in attendance.

The secretary emphasized being respectful to the brethren of officials. He also said that any action we deemed necessary to correct it is acceptable.

Not the aggressive approach I wanted to hear but a good start. He said he would send an email out about respecting others and such. So we will see how it goes. But for me personally, it's zero tolerance. At least I do have the backing of my association secretary.

Thanks for the follow-up.

I'm sure you'll let us know if this saga has a Chapter 3!

[26 Year Gap]

Originally Posted by StripesOhio

So, had the association meeting last night.

Brought it up with the secretary and he laughed....third time this week he's heard from somebody about this guy. He brought it up in meeting and everybody knew who he was talking about.

This guy was NOT in attendance.

The secretary emphasized being respectful to the brethren of officials. He also said that any action we deemed necessary to correct it is acceptable.

Not the aggressive approach I wanted to hear but a good start. He said he would send an email out about respecting others and such. So we will see how it goes. But for me personally, it's zero tolerance. At least I do have the backing of my association secretary.

Sounds like the race is ON! Who can toss this guy first?

Maybe you can put in an amendment to your bylaws such as "Any official who is a member of this association who is removed from a facility due to unsportsmanlike conduct shall pay a fine of $X for the first occurrence, $XX for the 2nd occurrence, and shall be removed from the association's membership list for the 3rd occurrence."

[RookieDude]

Originally Posted by StripesOhio

So, had the association meeting last night.

Brought it up with the secretary and he laughed.....

...can you see JR laughing at something like this?

I gotta think a better assignor would not make light of this.

[StripesOhio]

He's not an assignor, just the secretary of the association. He wasn't laughing at the situation, just laughing I think that he had heard it a couple of times already this week.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by RookieDude

...can you see JR laughing at something like this?

In my association, it's posted as being an absolute no-no in our code of conduct and also in our bylaws. If you're caught crapping on a fellow official publicly, the first offense is an immediate indefinite suspension with no warning(length determined by executive). The second offense is Hasta La Vista and don't let the door hit your azz on the way out. And it doesn't matter whether the public criticism was valid or not either; you keep your problems in-house and deal with them.

An officials' association is no different than a crew out on the floor. One person can make the whole association/crew look bad. And if we can't turn our back on one of your own, then we all have major, major problems.

If I was in the position of having to deal with that type of conduct, it would have been dealt with the first time that I heard of it. I sureashell wouldn't wait until I'd heard about it 3 times and then decide to do something about it.

We all may be amateur officials but that doesn't mean that we can't act professionally.

[StripesOhio]

I wouldn't say we are amateurs, we do take classes and hold permits. I think that makes us professional.

I agree, no 3 strikes. One time deal.

One thing they brought up at our meeting was officials who are parents. When they sit in the stands and a call is made, people in the crowd turn and look at the parent/official and ask questions.

Discussion ensued how to deal with that as well.

[CMHCoachNRef]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

In my association, it's posted as being an absolute no-no in our code of conduct and also in our bylaws. If you're caught crapping on a fellow official publicly, the first offense is an immediate indefinite suspension with no warning(length determined by executive). The second offense is Hasta La Vista and don't let the door hit your azz on the way out. And it doesn't matter whether the public criticism was valid or not either; you keep your problems in-house and deal with them.

An officials' association is no different than a crew out on the floor. One person can make the whole association/crew look bad. And if we can't turn our back on one of your own, then we all have major, major problems.

If I was in the position of having to deal with that type of conduct, it would have been dealt with the first time that I heard of it. I sureashell wouldn't wait until I'd heard about it 3 times and then decide to do something about it.

We all may be amateur officials but that doesn't mean that we can't act professionally.

I don't think that central Ohio has a specific rule in any of our associations. At the same time, I do know that an official I know had to send a letter of apology to an official for criticizing him in public. This official CONTINUES to be critical of officials during his son's games. The only thing that saves him today is that FEW officials KNOW he is an official.

[Freddy]

Finally cracking open my Feb. 2010 issue of Referee magazine, I was delighted to see an article on this exact topic on page 65. Could've been written by any of our well-respected, seasoned posters!