Handling Brawls

[mikesears]

Originally posted by Mike Simonds
Gosh, this is something that we all need to think about. Sounds like this situation is beyond the scope of preventive officiating. I'm going to bring this up at our meeting.

What I would think the crew should do is to start taking numbers (perhaps the wing officials would be responsible for players in the team box area and the R and U would be responsible for players on the field) and gather together for mutual safety while getting security and/police people on the field as soon as possible.

This is kind of what I was thinking. I've never had a fight break out in any game that I've worked. I am hoping to never run into this situation, but every football game has a potential for becoming ugly like this and I want to be prepared.

My own opinion is that wings should watch for subs entering from their side and get those numbers while U and R watch the players on the field. BJ should assist whoever might appear to need assistance. I agree officials should congregate for protection and move to a position to observe if the initial fight cannot be stopped.