Fan Ejection

[MD Longhorn]

Other officials would not be joking with anyone in the stands at any point in this story.

I have no idea what I would expect from the jokers you describe, so it's hard to say what most would do differently, given that the rest of this would never happen before the point you're asking about.

But if an official has a fan removed, they should not start until that fan is indeed removed.

[Tio]

Sounds like quite a mess.

The first question I would ask is: did the fan need to be removed? We have to understand there will be some verbal abuse from fans especially in emotionally charged games. We need to have a thick skin and in my experience, ignoring verbal abuse is the best tactic to get them to stop. If they won't stop or the abuse becomes vulgar or personal in nature, the first thing I would do is have him moved to another seat. If he is going to not behave in the front row, moving to the back of the gym is a good way to get him out of sight (and hearing distance). This might be a nice compromise.

If you decide he needs to leave the gym, there is no way you should resume play until the fan has vacated. If the fan refuses to leave, I tell the home coach that if the fan doesn't leave he will cost him points (technical foul). By rule you can penalize the home team with an administrative technical foul for fan behavior. This is not something that should be used except in the rarest of circumstances. If you say something, there is a good chance the coach will be motivated to get the unruly fan out of the gym ASAP.

As far as professionalism of your partner, I don't think this deserves a response. I would probably inform your assignor what happened and that you didn't feel the official exhibited proper professionalism during the game and leave it at that. The assignor can choose to act on it if he chooses.

[Rooster]

Originally Posted by Tio

If they won't stop or the abuse becomes vulgar or personal in nature, the first thing I would do is have him moved to another seat. If he is going to not behave in the front row, moving to the back of the gym is a good way to get him out of sight (and hearing distance). This might be a nice compromise.

This not being the same as a kindergarten classroom, I think this would be a very bad idea. (All you're going to do is humiliate him more than if he were removed by GM. Just think about how he'll behave then...) You've got NO authority to move him to another seat. Either he goes or stays but at that point he's GM's (and maybe the police's) problem.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Rooster

This not being the same as a kindergarten classroom, I think this would be a very bad idea. (All you're going to do is humiliate him more than if he were removed by GM. Just think about how he'll behave then...) You've got NO authority to move him to another seat. Either he goes or stays but at that point he's GM's (and maybe the police's) problem.

If it's borderline behavior, I'll just have GM address it. I won't pay attention to how they address it, and it may be something as simple as a quick chat or just sitting in that area for a while.

If the behavior is bad enough that I'm having to ask GM to remove someone, then moving him to another seat is not acceptable. If I find out that's all that was done, I'll include all the information in my report to my assigner and the state.

[Mark Padgett]

Many years ago (I have to take my shoes off to count how many) I was working a game for our local rec league. I think it was 8th grade boys. One of the dads just wouldn't quit yelling at me and my partner. At one break, I told him to knock it off or else he would have to leave the premises, and if he didn't do that, I would call the game off and make sure everyone knew it was because of him.

He yelled at me again and said he was going to "report" me to the league's head of officials. I just smiled and replied, "Uh, that would be me." He then said he was going to "report" me to the President of the league. I smiled again and said, "Uh, that would also be me. Anyone else you want to talk to?"

He left.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

He yelled at me again and said he was going to "report" me to the league's head of officials. I just smiled and replied, "Uh, that would be me." He then said he was going to "report" me to the President of the league. I smiled again and said, "Uh, that would also be me. Anyone else you want to talk to?"