Great Story, T on Cheerleaders
 

I have no idea if this is the correct action or not, but it's a great story!

Association meeting tonight, friend told a great story. Varsity girls, two teams with a lot of bad blood in the past, neither team particularly good. Visiting cheerleaders standing just off the endline behind home team's basket, doing a special cheer during every free throw. Ref (my friend) told them twice not to do it, that it was illegal. Partner also told them once. One of the refs then went to the cheerleading coach and told them it wasn't legal. They still kept doing it. Middle of second quarter, H1 goes up for a shot, takes a solid foul from V1, both go to the floor. H1 comes up swinging, V1 is ready to answer, refs rush in with the T's, AND THE CHEERLEADERS START TAUNTING!! Refs go in with T, V Coach goes crazy and gets a T.

H shot a lot of free throws!

That was just in the first half -- 38 fouls...

I have no problem with a T on the cheerleaders here. They were warned, they represent the school, etc.

Serves the cheerleaders right, they're suppose to inspire the team, not cause fights.

Did the cheerleaders get ejected?

They'd be done in my game, that's for sure.

Flaunting should be encouraged from the cheerleaders. Oh, that wasn't an "f". :D

I tend to agree to a point. Technically the cheerleaders for either team are part of the crowd, not part of the team. At first sign of a problem I'd have game management tell them to knock it off. If it continues, at the first dead ball opportunity stop the game and have game management remove them.

As for a T, I'm not inclined to go there immediately. Let game management deal with it as it is their responsibility....if that doesn't work, we always have the T to fall back on.....

In either case, a report definitely needs to go through channels to make sure the unacceptable conduct is reported to the state association and administrative personnel of the school involved.

I thought about this. I'm wondering how home management is gonna have a lot of traction with visiting cheerleaders, especially when there's obviously so much problem between the teams already. I can't for the life of me understand why the cheerleading coach or even the bball coach didn't deal with this a LOT sooner!

Juulie,


Bottom line, it's their responsibility.....if it ultimately takes a call to 911 to get it done, so be it.

The lack of prompt action on the part of the cheerleading coach also bothers me....OSAA and the school principal both need to get involved, IMHO. The bball coach not really paying attention I can maybe understand a little better.....after all, they spend a lot of their time focusing on yelling at the officials...:D:D:D

I didn't hear the story...which schools were involved?

Agree completely. It's game management's problem to deal with. You did your job by telling them to do their job. And you followed case book play 2.8.1.... so your butt is covered in case someone wants to whine later.

Excellent advice as to how to handle the situation imo.

The cheerleaders are definitively part of the teams' supporters. They've already been warned, so I have no problem with the T here. If this taunting was the first thing they pulled, I'll simply have game management remove them.

I'm having a tough time with a T on the cheerleaders. If they have already been warned and their "coach" has also been warned, I would likely just have them removed from the gym and play on.

here - cheerleaders consider themselves a team. I have no problem giving them a T or the boot. Game management might miss a single fan doing something from the stands - but should have done something about the cheerleaders on the floor - and if they didn't do their job - I would step in before things just got worse.

Than again - I have not had any sort of a soft spot in my heart for a cheerleader since I got jilted in the 7th grade!! ;)

You're wondering?

Me: Get those cheerleaders out of there.
Home AD: OK, no problem.
Me: (Wait.)
...
Me: Let's go.

The AD will handle this like any other situation with an unruly fan. They'll have them moved or removed. I can wait. I'm not getting personally involved, ever. The odds of me calling a technical are about zero.

I bet it would be pretty entertaining to watch those girls gather their sweats and everything to leave. Pom poms dragging the floor...

Depends. Some of these cow town schools I do the cheerleaders are bigger than me.

Who is the Technical assigned to?
 

If you Tech in this situation, how is it charged? As a Team Tech but then it does not fall under any Admin criteria? Is it a Direct Tech on HC then?

It's the same as giving a Tech to any team supporters not on the bench. Team T only.

thanks
 

thanks for the reply

I meant to start a thread about this a few years ago after a game where we had a minor issue with cheerleaders (coach wanted them removed from under basket where they were shooting). There's no specific rule on this.

In situations where they aren't in my way or otherwise interfering with the game as I see it, what exactly are we to do if a coach complains? I personally wish the rules committee would say something about where cheerleaders can and can't be but until they do, how do we handle it?

I think its reasonable to say they will not be allowed under the basket, rather in the corner, but you might want to make sure your association will enforce that uniformly.

I personally ask the cheerleaders to remain outside the 3-point line. Under the basket is a safety hazard as far as I'm concerned.

A group of cheerleaders was removed from a state championship series in Virginia last year for failing to comply with sportmanship requirements. They were removed by game management and not the officials. I don't remember exactly what they did, but this thread reminded me of it happening.