How to ignore

[parepat]

On occassion I will put the "cat that ate the canary" smile on my face and look in the direction of the jerk. Kind of like I know your a jerk and so does everyone else. This will have 2 possible effects. The first is that he'll realize that he can't get to you and he'll shut up. The second is that it will drive him even more insane. He'll continue to ratchet up the insults until someone tells him to knock it off. Just be sure to not make direct eye contact and do not respond verbally. Probably not by the book, but, it has worked for me.

[Suudy]

I posted this situation before (I think it was last season). I had a kid break free for about a 50 yard touchdown. I was the BJ, so I was standing on the GL as the runner nears the goal. The pursuing defender did a slide and tried to kick out the feet of the runner. He tripped the runner, but the runner was able to keep his balance enough to cross the GL upright.

I immediately get an earful from a guy standing behind the EZ (this is a small school--8 man football on a cramped field with no real defined fan areas). He starts talking about how tripping is illegal and the safety of the kids are in danger when I am officiating. He threatened "legal action" if that trip had caused an injury.

It took a tremendous amount of self-restraint to ignore this guy. It's one thing to chew on me about not calling a PI, holding, etc. But to say that I'm threatening the safety of the kids playing is something else. Then to top it off with a threat of legal action....

I was irate at the guy, but somehow I kept my tongue. That was probably the single toughest moment to keep quiet in my career.

[jjrye22]

I guess that is the joy of the leagues I officiate in Germany. Absolutely no fans!

As a player on the weekend I had a frustrating time though. We were in a different area (I didn't know the officials). In the third quarter myself and another team captain at various times were trying to ask (VERY politely) for clarification of a flag (since the WH didn't signal to our side as well), or for a time check (no stadium clocks in most games in Germany). He completely ignored both of us.
At first I thought he didn't hear, but then I went over and after asking my questions (politely) 3 times, I asked if he was ignoring me. His response was that he had 'heard so much sh** from our sideline that he was not responding to us anymore'.
I have to say that that seemed like completely the wrong way to do things. Ignore, then say something like that when the question was legitamite and politely worded. I mentioned to the WH about it, but don't know if the talked about it after the game.

Just gives me something to check when I'm on the sideline - make sure I don't respond like that.

James

[JasonTX]

A trick I learned is to not respond to those guys as you obviously learned. Through time you'll get to the point to where you can't even hear it anymore. But, as always there are those hecklers that are the exception. What I do is find something to talk to that teams coach about. Don't mention anything about the heckler but find something you can say to the coach and then make eye contact with that heckler while you are talking to the coach. In most cases this guy will think you are talking to the coach about him and will go his own way so he won't risk being thrown out.

[simpson]

First of all, you don't have to whisper your pre-snap ritual to yourself, yell it to your crew mates. On Friday nights, they can't hear you in most cases, but it helps keep your head where it belongs -- in the game. I know we all use hand signals, but verbal reinforcement is OK and the coach knows you are working. I work LJ on Friday nights, I say, "Second Down Jared (WH)" while I signal to him, then "Second Down, clock's running, Tyler" (BJ) while I'm signaling to him. Then, "We got 11," when I put my fist out to the BJ. "You're on the line," to the wideout who is on the line and then tip my cap to the HL to signal my half of the line of scrimmage has 3 guys plus the center.

I've found that works better to keep your head in the game and frankly, coaches tend to realize that between downs you actually have a job that is more than listening to him complain about a play that happened last quarter.

As for the disruptive fan, if it's too bad, you can always have game administration remove him. Once had an administrator ask me if I would tell him to remove a fan so he could tell his school board member he'd been asked to shut up or leave. The administrators are usually happy to deal with unruly fans, remember they have to hear the same jerk every week, you only get them once.

[Blue37]

Friday night, my Linesman, who is black, had a flag for a false start on the team on his sideline. According to the most recent census data, the town is 97% white and .66% black. The team is 100% white. After the penalty was administered, as I was preparing to give the ready, I heard "Go back to Africa" from the stands.

I stopped the game, went to the head coach and asked for their administrator. I explained what had occurred, indicated the area where the comment had originated, and requested she take care of it.

We did not wait for her to act, so I do not know what she did, but nothing else unclassy was heard. After the game, as we were exiting the field, one of the assistant coaches caught up to us and explained the students were not referring to him as black, but were referring to him as a "zebra".

Yeah, right coach, whatever you want to believe.

[JRutledge]

It is very easy to ignore fans when they are behind the ropes or in the stands. You just have to ignore them in those situations. Now if they start putting themselves on the field and players and coaches start responding, you have another situation. The latter are situations where you might have to directly address a fan. Now when the fan came onto the field and said something to you I suggest that you keep in professional and say no more than "Thank you." I would not engage into a long conversation with the fan or stay around for further insults and comments. Dealing with fans is just something you are going to have to do and knowing how to handle them is part of your job. Fans do not hire your or get you fired. So listening to them for more than comedy purposes is something you just have to do.

Peace