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

REPLY: Not really sure, but I would think that getting involved (pulling people apart, pushing people away, etc.) would put us in an even greater position of liability. I have a friend (lawyer) who is a renowned expert in the area of sports and the law. I'll ask.

Not as big a risk as you'd run having some parent, who's lying, saying that you punched them or you punched their kid or you caused an injury when you grabbed them, etc, etc, etc. I'd stay completely out of it.

down load
 

Where can I download it this video?

K

I believe I know what your friend's advice will be.

Getting involved could make you liable. What happens when you're restraining someone who gets hit why he can’t defend himself? What if you pull someone away and you end up injuring that person?

Besides the fact that the officials may make a very inviting target for some knucklehead.

Let the field administrator handle it. Call the police. Protect yourself.

It was on CNN.com, SI.com, probably youtube.com...

I posted the YouTube link earlier in the thread.

Some of us are "duty bound" by the nature of their real job to intervene in a felony in progress. For those of us, we would have to intervene to stop an assault on a child but we would have the limited immunity from liability that we have from our real job. For all others, let your conscience be your guide. Could you be sued? Yes. but nowadays just about anyone can be sued for just about anything. Would the suit be successful? If you acted as a reasonable person would act, chances are good the suit would not be successful.

Bann them all
 

I think that they should bann all parents from youth sports. If they want to see the game buy the video. :cool:

If a brawl of this size broke out, I'd be tempted to leave and let the police sort it out :)

REPLY: As for the question of what to do when a brawl breaks out (just "take numbers" or actively get involved in breaking it up), Alan Goldberger, legal consultant to NASO and a frequent contributor to REFEREE magazine in the area of sports and the law, responded to my e-mail asking his opinion regarding these two strategies. He says,

"As to your question, conventional wisdom isn't so wise. In fact, it is a crock.
Short answer: to 'take numbers' is a major copout. Liability risk is
100x greater while you stand around, "losing control of the game." My
feeling is that doing anything less than taking every action possible to
prevent or shorten a fight is indefensible. Key, in my mind, is good
mechanics, nailing taunting/baiting the first time, not turning your
back, and not leaving opponents unsupervised during dead ball periods.
Football, any sport. If you let them fight, it's the eyes of those
present, it's your fault, 99% of the time."

Bob,

Alan's reply addresses ways to prevent this from happening but doesn't give any advice on what to do it things do get out of hand. I'm all for stepping in if I can handle the situation and trying to prevent things from spiraling out of control but what happens when the number of combatants outnumbers the officials? At some point we have to consider our own safety too.

Walt

I'm beginning to think there's no easy answer.

Try to break it up and risk being complicit in an injury.

Stand aside and risk being hit with a sin of omission.

Maybe that's why we get the big bucks. :)

REPLY: waltjp...here's what Alan advises for your last question:

"If it really gets away and there are too many people, you still need to
focus on not letting it get worse. That's why you need to be very
pro-active if it even looks like a fight is 10 minutes away. At least
one guy in every fight usually doesn't want to be there, anyway. If
they have a chance to retreat, they often will, especially if you are
looming close by, giving the appearance that you are looking for a
victim of your own.

The longer it goes on and the more people involved, of course, the worse
it is for us. So you need to do something other than stand around.
Separate somebody. Push, pull, blow whistles -- act like more of an
escaped mental patient than they do. It's your field that they are
desecrating.

Ever see films where officials are standing around during one of these
things. Anything look worse? or more out of control?"

We as officials are in charge of the game on the field. Game administration is charged with maintaining a safe and secure environment including protecting us officials. If that means having armed police surrounding the field, it is the job of game administration.

If a brawl breaks out with fans charging the field there could be the likelyhood of some misguided individual using the opportunity to "get those zebras that cost us the game."

Even a brawl among players, you can attempt to stop the fight but if you are in a position where you can get injured, you should remove yourself and let the coaches and game adminsitration handle it.

Start grabbing players, and you'd be sued for child abuse.

Bob

Anyone have more information ??

Were there other incidents--cheap shots/penalties for unescessary
roughness or unsportsmanlike conduct in that game prior to the
cheap shot that precipitated things ???
Had that player committed similar penalties in that game or
previous games ??
I'm curious.

The jerk has been charged with a misdemeanor.

Bob