Fans become overly rowdy
 

Had an incident tonight (had happen to wife while she was shot clock during 1st round playoff game tonight), where the whole of the visiting team seemed to throw sportsmanship out the window & no one did anything about it.

They were constantly complaining about every call, both for & against them, continually bad mouthing both the timer & shot clock & the floor officials.

The officials were buzzed to the table between the quarters & they did nothing even though the table crew was being verbally attacked.

Game Management tried to get things under control & could not.

Any suggestions on what steps should be taken?

Fans or the actual visiting team itself?

Didn't you have your Taser there to take care of business? I thought you're the crowd control at CHS?

Well, in your case make sure you're not talking to the unruly fans. Any comments will be like gas on a fire!

I was at home due to not feeling good, otherwise I would of been at shot clock.

The fans & the visiting team both threw sportsmanship out the window.

Loudwhistle, had I of been there (which I was not) I would of found a way to de-escalate the situation.

The visiting team does not have a history of being unruly.

Unfortunately from what I am hearing about the situation no one really knew what to do nor was the appropriate personnel asked to intervene.

Eagle,
I don't know how your gym is set up but stupid fan comments were the reason for our seating configuration.We close the bleachers on the west side and lay out tables and chairs for the benches and table area.The fans are kept out of our ears for the entire night.There is only one night we deviate from this setup-Homecoming.
As is-get through the night and talk to your administration in the morning.At my school 2/3 vice principals work our basketball games as shot clock and game clock operator.We always know who is in charge and there is adequate security should anything occur.It sounds like your people not knowing what to do is a lack of training among the security staff and supervisory personnel.At our school we would've stopped the game and dealt with the offenders either by removal or warning.This policy has led to some pretty interesting situations including once where a fan threatened to key our AD's car after being removed.

Simple...get rid of them...no refunds, sorry!

I believe you get rid of 1 or 2 and the rest get back in line. JMO.

If not, there's the door, we don't NEED fans to play the game.

I forget: is that better or worse than coals to Newcastle? :D

Not having been there, I can't say for sure what should have been done with the team. As for game management: I agree that tossing a couple would have likely resolved the issue. If not, toss a couple more and tell the whole lot of them they're next. that's what police are for.

The only thing officials should do if there is a fan issue is ask game management to handle it. If GM was attempting to handle it and couldn't, I'm not sure what else the officials could have done, other than identifying specific people they wanted removed and holding the game up until it's time to play again.

Truth is, GM should handle more of these issues before officials ever have to intervene. I don't hear a lot of what's happening in the stands and I have 10 players and two benches to worry about. There is nothing stopping game management from removing people without being asked by the officials to do so. I wish more GM was proactive in this way.

What if the Varsity boys coach is the guy in the stands you had removed?

This actually happened last week.

Edit: The VB coach was being a aZZ watching the Frosh game before his Varsity game.

Great question! What happened? I've seen a varsity coach do this in a couple of games but they weren't removed.

I wasn't there...but, it was brought up at our meeting this week.

I guess the veteran official, that was doing a double header that night, kicked him out himself. He said he didn't really trust GM to do it...so he just kicked him out.

I guess the coach made a show out of it...taking about 2 minutes to leave the gym.

The veteran official called our assignor...and it was determined to let the coach participate in the Varsity game that night.

Some, wondered aloud, if the coach was kicked off of the premises if he would be considered trespassing if he came back in the gym for the Varsity game.

Around here it is not uncommon for a coach at a school to coach more than one team. On at least two occasions, (I was personally involved in one) I have seen a jr. high girls coach ejected and that coach return to coach the jr. high boys game without incident.

I hear you jar...and that is common procedure around here as well. We have had Varsity coaches sitting on the Frosh teams BENCH and get ejected. They were allowed to Coach the Varsity contest, later in the night, because that game is not a "like" game, that they would have to sit out.

The twist here is that the Coach was a "fan"...not on the bench.

Some wondered if a regular "fan" was ejected from the building...if that "fan" could come back and watch the Varsity contest.

Edit: Another twist...I am not sure if the Frosh game was being played in a separate building from the Varsity game.

Some states require, after an ejection, the player or coach to sit out all contests until they have fulfilled the suspension for a game at the same level they were ejected.

So, a coach ejected from a JV game could not coach at any level until he sits out a JV game.

We have that rule here in the Golden State!

I'm not sure if CO has it or not, IA did when I was there. That wouldn't apply to Dan's case, though, where the coach was ejected as a fan rather than a participant.

Rookie - we have had the same thing happen in this area before (several times, with the same a$$-wipe Varsity coach). After the second time he was kicked out of a gym during the Frosh game (he was sitting in the stands as a fan) we asked the WIAA for a ruling. Unfortunately, their interp. was that he could come back in and coach the Varsity game, but that an ejection form should be filled out and they would keep track of it. Stupid...

Btw - same guy had a good team and made it to his first State tournament at the Tacoma Dome a few years back...played three games, got whacked in all three of them. Should have been tossed in the third game and the officials who didn't toss him got reamed by the tourn. directors.

The setup is that the visitors seating area is right behind their bench.

The home student section is across the court from the visitors' bench.

Concerning game management/security/crowd control, the principal & AD went over to be near the table & one fan was ejected, there were several announcements made about sportsmanship & those were ignored. Other than that nothing was done.

Unfortunately there was no police presence for the game.

The security staff primarily is my family, however since having to deal with watching for people trying to bring in food & drinks into gym, not much can be done unless notified of the problem. The AD & Principal have more interest in watching the game than doing anything about crowd control unless they are asked to.

It was the visitors' bench as well as the fans that were the issue, not one or the other.

Dan the game was GV (1st round of 1A Districts).

The varsity scoreboard/timer got rattled cause of what happened & that's a rarity.

The visitors' coach was riding the table all night & that got the fans doing the same thing.

The officials were buzzed to come to the table concerning the abuse from the coach, yet nothing was done to curb the coach.

If your officials are refusing to do anything about this then email the WIAA and tell them about the incident.I imagine these officials could be stripped of games for failure to protect their table crew.Aren't we all considered one team out there-these officials certainly did not follow that mantra.Better yet if this coach's team is on the road in the next round call his next host school and warn them as a courtesy.

Yep, there's your answer. Had you been there, they're wouldn't have been any problems.