Parents who argue with referees to be given 1-year ban or the option to officiate in future games

in sports •  2 years ago 

This is only going to apply in a small part of the United States but I think it is a great movement and personally I hope it spreads. Although it has been a while since I've seen this there have been instances that I remember where parents would fly off that handle towards and official or referee. This happened to me once when a parent rushed the field in the middle of a game to cuss me out during a soccer game I was officiating. I was a teenager, and this burly 30 something man was really up in my face and threatening me verbally and physically. I ended up terminating the game and leaving the area. He ended up being banned from attending all future games.

Now while I guess you could say that I celebrated his ban a bit due to my desire for vengeance, looking back I think that the ban was a bit harsh. I would imagine that he would have self-ostracized just based on how terrible he looked in the eyes of all the other parents that were there. Basically I think that everyone is entitled to a really bad day every now and then and while there should have been repercussions for him, banning him for life was bit extreme.

New Jersey has found some sort of middle ground as far as officials in youth sport are concerned. People who are harassing officials for what the harassers perceive as bad calls will be removed from the game. From that point forward they can choose, they either accept a 1-year ban or they can elect to officiate 3 baseball games themselves so they can see what it is like to be on the other side and making calls for an entire game. They can also face the scrutiny that they themselves were doling out previously and see that it isn't as easy as it looks.


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Now like I mentioned this is just one small part of New Jersey and it is just one little league baseball organization, but I think it is a good idea. A lot of these parents lose their minds when a call is made against their child, and that was the situation when the parent rushed the field towards me when I was refereeing a youth soccer game. The thing was, his kid was in the wrong and even though I tried to explain the rules of the sport to the parent and previously a lot more calmly and gently to the boy himself, the parent didn't really seem to care. He saw my calls as an affront to his kid and the reasoning was irrelevant to him even though he was clearly very ignorant about the rules of the game. This is actually quite common in the United States with soccer where the kids routinely treat the game as if it was American football.

Starting now, any parent or spectator that engages in a fight or argument with the officials during little league games will be recorded and given the option of a ban or volunteering their time to officiate 3 games. Why 3 games? Because in baseball and especially little-league baseball, a crucial call happening in 1 game is quite unlikely.

This particular area of New Jersey is not an area that I am personally familiar with but based on the people I have met that are from New Jersey I get the impression that the population just generally speaking are quite "hard." After a series of heckling and berating of officials in the little league in New Jersey, these volunteer officials who weren't even being paid quit the organization. This is obviously very bad for the league and the kids as well who now find themselves without officials at all.



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I think it is a good idea and really hope that some of the unruly parents actually do step up and get to see what it is like to have to make the calls during a game. I can say from experience that it is not as easy as it appears to be from the stands.

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