Incident in Texas HS Playoff Game

[ajmc]

Thank God it's never happened, but I made a promise a long time ago; If a player, coach or fan assaulted me on the field, sideline or after the game, I would do whatever necessary to see that they spent that night in jail, and would pursue it as far as possible.

I have always thought I owe that to everyone else wearing stripes. In my book, striking an official is right below smacking your mother. You just can't go there, ever.

[TXMike]

I hope I have the intestinal fortitude to press the issue also should it ever happen to me. Some things are larger than us as individuals and thinking of it that way may help someone make the decision to go forward even though it could be difficult, and be "costly" to us or our association in terms of future game potential.

[waltjp]

Originally Posted by ajmc

Thank God it's never happened, but I made a promise a long time ago; If a player, coach or fan assaulted me on the field, sideline or after the game, I would do whatever necessary to see that they spent that night in jail, and would pursue it as far as possible.

I have always thought I owe that to everyone else wearing stripes. In my book, striking an official is right below smacking your mother. You just can't go there, ever.

Likewise, I made the same promise. I witnessed an incident following a HS county tournament baseball game last spring where one of the umpires was physically assaulted by a fan while leaving the field and heading for the parking lot.

I wasn't working the game but stopped by to watch and knew a couple of the umps. I walked with them to the parking lot when they were approached by a fan. A few words were exchanged. I tried to position myself between the fan and the umps but before I could get there the fan grabbed one of the umps around the neck.

Fortunately we were being followed out by another fan who was an off-duty police officer. He witnessed the entire exchange and subdued the fan before any real harm could be done.

Of course, by subdue I mean the officer wrestled him to the ground and held him until the local police showed up.