Crowd "Control"

DaveASA/FED · #1 (**permalink**) Wed Sep 28, 2005, 10:55am

I was up official and bleachers behind me were open and fans sitting there, cheer block for home team (group of high school boys) were saying things to visiting team. Things like "O #4 you sure missed that, #4 don't blow it" etc. Captain of visiting team came to me and asked if I could do anything so I turned around and asked them not to use the players name of number (I think a throw back to softball) they agreed with no dispute. As game went on I thought to myself if I handled that correctly, did I have any 'power' to address them? Is that within my officiating jurisdiction? I know to deal with unruly fans is actually the home teams managment responsibility-should I have had the AD speak to them? Or is this an issue to even get involved with as an official? They weren't unruly just trying to get into the players heads. Should I have let it go?? What say you all???

FMadera · #2 (**permalink**) Wed Sep 28, 2005, 12:33pm

As a rule of thumb, you should identify who your supervising administrators are on site, and make sure you can spot them when you need them. Addressing the fans is best left to them in case they get belligerent.

Nothing wrong with what you said (I had the same situation last night, something came up when the admin was tending to something in the hall), and I just turned to the boys and said "direct comments to your team and not to the opposing players." They complied, and we had no further problems, but had the admin been there, I would have had her deal with it first.

Andy · #3 (**permalink**) Wed Sep 28, 2005, 02:19pm

I'll echo what Felix said. This is best left to the site administrator if s/he is available. If not, the home team coach is the next level.

Here's my story from a few years ago:

Working a JV match as the umpire. The site adminstrator had introduced himself when we entered the gym and told us that he would be back and forth between the volleyball game in the gym and the football game out on the field. My partner on the stand was not one of our best VB officials.

After the match was well under way, about 12-15 of the varsity football players came in the gym to watch. They were very vocal, cheering for their team, but nothing out of line. My partner made a call that they did not agree with, so all of the football player started chanting the word "motion", however the chant sounded like the word "bullsh*t". I quickly scanned the gym for the administrator, but did not see him. I walked over to where these students were seated, said that I was glad they were here supporting their team, but profanity would not be tolerated. I got the "what profanity?" and "who, us?" type responses. I told them that I knew what they were saying, but I also knew what it sounded like and I didn't want to hear it again.

As I turned to go back to the match, one of the kids decided to be funny and chanted "motion" again just loud enough to be heard. I turned back to the group and asked them to leave the gym. They weren't happy, but they left.

After the match, the site adminstrator came over to me. I was about to let him know what had happened when he said the he saw what I did and he thought I handled it well.I asked him where he was and he told me that he was sitting on the top row of the gym watching the whole incident. I told him that he really should have stepped in and dealt with it as crowd behavior is his responsibility. He just kind of blew me off and walked away.

I did file a report with our state association - don't know if anything ever came of it, though.

TimTaylor · #4 (**permalink**) Wed Sep 28, 2005, 03:58pm

I agree, letting game management handle it is the best approach.

First varsity match this season - I was the U. During game 2 I overheard a kid from the visiting school make a derogatory remark to the line judge closest to the bleachers (called her a b***h with an adjective or two thrown in). During the next dead ball I signaled my R to wait, then went to the AD, pointed out the offender and told the AD the kid needed to leave. The AD tossed him & the match went on.

In my experience this is quite rare in volleyball - in basketball, on the other hand, I've had to have spectators removed a number of times.

refnrev · #5 (**permalink**) Mon Oct 03, 2005, 04:31pm

T Taylor is right. This is much worse in basketball! And if you can defer to the school rep. But it does happen in VB once in awhile and the rep isn't there. I was doing a Jr. High VB game last winter and some of the "cool" 8th grade boys, all of whom I knew, were yelling at the visiting girls. All at once I heard, "Hey #7, I forgot my bra. Can I borrow yours." I turned to the group, pointed, and yelled, "Knock it off!" The gym got very quiet and we resumed play. The school official had been in the hall watching a college basketball game. When he came in and asked what happened I told him and then asked him to shut two of the guys up. He thanked me then walked over and really chewed on the guys a while. He's a former HS V Boy's basketball coach and he can rip and stomp and snort with the best of them. The boys were very very polite after that.