Thoughts on forfeit?

[twocentsworth]

Originally Posted by jeremy341a

I approach the assistant coach and tell him if he doesn't sit and stop complaining he will forfeit the game. His reply was "go ahead then." At this point we ruled the game a forfeit.
Thoughts on this? Was this too early to rule a forfeit? Should we have continued the game?

Food for thought...

Maybe it's just me, but when someone, who is clearly upset/emotional , is asked a "loaded" question ("Do you want me to?....") or issued a challenging statement ("If you don't ____, then I will ___!"), 9 out of 10 times you're going to get an emotional response - "GO AHEAD!".

Unfortunately, officials tend to respond in a similarly emotional way ("FINE!).

Although it is sometimes difficult, the officials need to be the calmest people in the gym/arena. I'm sure you didn't want to forfeit the game - nobody does...heck, I'm sure the coach didn't want to either. You simply have to get the coach to calm down.

Ref: "If you don't sit down and stop complaining, then you will forfeit the game."
(Here comes the emotional response...)
Asst. Coach: "Go ahead then!"
(Instead of reflexive emotional response...)
Ref: "Coach, you don't really want to forfeit. Think about it...I'm sure your Athletic Director and Principal won't be happy with a forfeit. I understand you're upset and frustrated. I understand you don't like what has happened. Let's work together to simply get thru this game and finish it without any more problems. It's about the kids. Nobody wants a forfeit. Let's play...." Then get the game started again.

An official can certainly "show 'em who's the boss" and forfeit the game. If that happens, I'm sure that the assignor, conference commissioner, AD's, & others "powers that be" will support the official. We both know that the official isn't ALWAYS right and that there is definitely more than one way to handle a situation. In my opinion, If I have to forfeit a game, then I feel like I didn't handle the situation as well as it could have been. It is only the extreme circumstance that calls for a forfeit; haven't personally experienced one in 15yrs of doing all levels from youth bball up to D2 college games....