Football Dad -- "Late Hit"
 

Anyone see the video of the father running out onto the field after the play was over and knock down a player because apparently this player put a late hit on his son earlier in the game?

Yes I have. It was awful. I hope this dad gets jailed, sued and thrown under the jail.

Peace

Video should be here:

http://www.cnn.com/video/partners/rs...oach.hits.kcra

There's also a link on the CNNSI homepage at:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/

That guy is so screwed. What a bozo. No offense to Bozo.

This Bozo is just an example of what has happened to kids sports.

There was a penalty flag on the field but this Bozo didn't think it was enough and after all his team was winning. Hope the league forfeited the game.

YouTube link.

Apparently there was about a 20 minute parent brawl afterwards.

What do we, as officials, do in that situation?

Sit back and take down numbers of players and monitor what coach is fighting. We are officials, not police officers.

Stand back and take names and numbers, where possible.

Stay out of the melee. Some "fans" could use this opportunity to take some frustration out on you.

I'd also say there would be no more football that day. Suspend the game and let the league sort it out.

Would we run the risk of being held liable if a kid got hurt while we were standing off to the side, doing nothing but being a witness, when we could have at least gotten kids (these being little kids - high schoolers I'm not so worried about) out of the way of potentially being hurt?

I'm just askin', because you know somebody would try to make the case that we're in charge and by bailing out, we were complicit in some way in a kid or kids getting hurt.

They are wearing pads, I'm not. There's 100 of them (plus the parents) and 3-5 of us. I don't think we could be held liable for staying the hellO out of the way.

In a pee-wee game, there's probably two of us.

Fair enough point.

Then again, litigiousness knows no common sense whatsoever.

Most leagues that I have worked in this area had 3 or 4 officials. If I am not mistaken I believe I saw at least 3 officials on this particular game.

I also think we could if someone really wanted to try to scapegoat the officials. I am not sure what you could have done except make sure the adult did not hurt the kid further. Even then if the guy is bigger, stronger or has a weapon, I do not see how we could be expected to fight this coach. Now if it was me I would have tried to stop it if I felt I had a chance to. It is also not every day you see a lunatic parent running from off the field and attacking a player.

Peace

Hmmm. The league I've done games in only has two, but it's not 12-13 year olds, either.

When I was 14 and played, we had three at least (looking back at old photos).

I guess I'm doing 9-10 year olds.

In any case, good point. If I had a chance to stop an adult from laying out a kid (though it happened so fast), I would try, but if there's going to be a fracas, I'm not going to risk getting hurt.

As a wise man once told me, "Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6."

I have done 9-10 year olds and we had 3 officials at the very least. I have worked a Catholic Middle School League the last 3 years and we always had 3 officials and sometimes 4 when we could find someone willing to work.

The only time I have seen the Pop Warner Leagues or Bill George Leagues have less then 3 are when they play like the "Mighty Mites." Those kids are around 6 or 7 years old and can hardly stand up with all the equipment they are wearing. In those games you are really not there to officiate, you are just there to make sure everyone is safe.

Peace