First friday night ejection in 5 years.

[Shoottv]

I'm a 5th year official and had my first ejection on a Friday night. First round playoff game, team down by about 50, mid 3rd quarter on a try attempt. D end comes from the right and never even attempting to play the ball takes out the holder at full speed leading with his helmet. He had no intention of doing anything on that play other than trying to injure the kicker or the holder.  I understand he's frustrated but he's also done for the evening. The only comment I get from the coach as I explain is "OK."

Then the fun starts. His father spends the next 18 minutes walking the stands behind me using all sorts of vile language.  I'm still in awe than no person in the stands ever said "sit down you're making an BUTT of yourself." He then starts to threaten both the chain crew and me. Immediately after the game he comes over the fence and manages a little push in my chest before some coaches get between him and me. The officer who was our post game escort said he was really polite when he was in the back of the patrol car in cuffs.

I didn't press charges because it was not a full out assault and because it would have been about a 2 hour drive for every court date.

I have to say I'm about ready to hang it up. I'm not new to officiating this is year 5 of football and I did 7 years of soccer proior to that. However, it's gotten to the point where what is accepted behavior by coaches and fans is way over the line. I really want to write an open letter to coaches and administrators and let them know that when they say they have no decent veteran officials that they may just have brought it on themselves.

48 minutes of screaming at me an having my wife called a LOVER just isn't worth the $70.

[Cowman52]

 One thing we have in Texas, a fan or anyone starts anything, game is stopped, game administrator notified and cops escort trouble maker out RIGHT NOW.
 Stands get real quiet real quick.
Don't take it personally, world is full of a**es , do your game and do it in spite of them.

[IAUMP]

Not to be offensive, but you have aided to the problem.  If the dad was threatening you, or anybody in the game, you should have had him removed from the facility.  Also, by not pressing charges, you have just told him that it is acceptable to threaten and assualt a sports official.

[HLinNC]

I work in the court system so I know about delays and having to deal with trips to court.  However, I'm also trained in defense tactics so once he commits the "little push", he has bought the whole cow.

Your mistake appears to be to  allow the game to continue after he threatened you and your chain crew.  That is when he crossed the line and should have been ejected by game administration at the least and arrested at the most.  Pressing charges is a personal matter that you have to decide the value of.   The safety of your fellow officials, however, is shared by all of you and the school administration.

It sounds as if you had poor security and game management.  You should file a report with your assigner and he should follow up with the school's administration.   The civil liability rests with them for failing to act and provide proper security.  Too many schools continue to live in the fantasy of the good old days where violence is something you see on t.v. from the big city.

[TampaSteve]

Shoot:
I'm not excited with out litigious society, but not doing anything indirectly says, 'it's OK to do this to officials everywhere.'
..& you pressing charges does not mean you have to go to court several times.  Heck, contact the State HS sports governing body & ask them.  Perhaps they go to bat for you.
A little in awe he made it to the field to begin with.
Heck, round these parts, the nano-second he made any direct threat we're stopping the game & asking our armed friends with badges to remove him. 

[AlUpstateNY]

Not to be offensive, but you have aided to the problem.  If the dad was threatening you, or anybody in the game, you should have had him removed from the facility.  Also, by not pressing charges, you have just told him that it is acceptable to threaten and assualt a sports official.

If any spectator, lays a hand on you, you are of course entitled to defend yourself as necessary, but win, lose or draw that spectator needs to spend the night in jail regardless of any inconvenience that may cause to you.  You owe to every other official to do whatever is necessasry to press charges and insist on action being taken.

[yarnnelg]

You need the Florida Law. The Dad gets to go to jail.... Felony and you don't have the choice of not filing. 

[rickref]

File charges.

Do not let it get you down. I went years with out ejections. We had two Thursday and one Friday. Strangest week I have ever had.

[TampaSteve]

...& speaking of ejections, I believe for FL soccer leads the way over any other sport...

[Osric Pureheart]

On the other hand, it's infinitely easier to get sent off in soccer.  Imagine if the 2-USC-and-done rule applied to personal fouls and pass interference as well.

[Wettstein]

"Vile" language is enough - have him escorted from the field.

[TampaSteve]

On the other hand, it's infinitely easier to get sent off in soccer.  Imagine if the 2-USC-and-done rule applied to personal fouls and pass interference as well.

Not a soccer person at all.  But to get a yellow card for a soccer equilivent PF, it's basically borderline 'dirty' play, yes?

[ECILLJ]

His father spends the next 18 minutes walking the stands behind me using all sorts of vile language. 

This needs to be taken care of before 18 minutes of vile language. We have had this happen before. The game is stopped for an officials time out. The game management is summoned to the sideline and we let them know there is a fan who needs to be removed before action continues. The linesman should work his way toward the middle of the field and avoid eye contact with the fan. The other four can keep him apprised of the situation. Make sure you have an escort when leaving the field together. If using a lanyard that hangs from your neck, take it off when leaving the field. The whole crew needs to stay alert.

About 20 years ago we had crew member tackled and punched when leaving the field. Charges were filed and the attacker was arrested, prosecuted and found guilty.

[Welpe]

Not a soccer person at all.  But to get a yellow card for a soccer equilivent PF, it's basically borderline 'dirty' play, yes?

There are a whole host of reasons to get cautioned in soccer. Tactical or cynical fouls that break up a promising attack, dissent, failure to give the other team 10 yards on a free kick, persistently fouling the other team, tackles or challenges that are reckless in nature and more I'm probably missing.

Then there are the send off (red card) offenses which includes denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity ( think of it as kind of like intentional DPI except it actually gets called) and I believe in NFHS, taunting is a straight red also.

In summary, it's a lot easier to get sent off in soccer than football.

[TampaSteve]

This needs to be taken care of before 18 minutes of vile language. We have had this happen before. The game is stopped for an officials time out. The game management is summoned to the sideline and we let them know there is a fan who needs to be removed before action continues. The linesman should work his way toward the middle of the field and avoid eye contact with the fan. The other four can keep him apprised of the situation. Make sure you have an escort when leaving the field together. If using a lanyard that hangs from your neck, take it off when leaving the field. The whole crew needs to stay alert.

About 20 years ago we had crew member tackled and punched when leaving the field. Charges were filed and the attacker was arrested, prosecuted and found guilty.

I came away with somilar thoughts about someone carrying on in the stands.
My sister lives near a VERY, VERY well-known, school in Denton, TX playing @Pennington Field.  Her & hubby (a cop) are there to watch the game - well sis is there to see the band.  Sitting on the visitor (c'ville) side.
A few "gentlemen" in the stands get rowdy & arent settling down.  Hubby, in plain clothes, walks down & make sure they each see something shiny he attached to his belt & suggests, "how bout you fellas settle down a bit, eh?"
For whatever reason he got his point across.
Nevertheless, I'm surprised not only did the officials not have the guy leave, but also uniformed or out of uniform sheriff/police did not step up too.

[Eastshire]

Not a soccer person at all.  But to get a yellow card for a soccer equilivent PF, it's basically borderline 'dirty' play, yes?

I'm a soccer ref and a football fan.

One of the seven reasons for a caution is unsporting behavior. One way to be unsporting is to recklessly foul an opponent Of the 10 penal fouls, 7 can be committed carelessly (simple foul), recklessly (caution/yellow card) or with excessive force (send off/red card).

A reckless foul is one where the offender has not considered the safety of his opponent. Typically this are late hit type fouls, non-thrown elbows, or tackles from behind not involving studs or straight-legs.

There are 7 ways to be sent off in soccer.
1. Serious foul play - a foul committed with excessive force while challenging for the ball
2. Violent conduct - any violent action directed towards anyone. It may or may not be a foul.
3. Offensive, insulting or abusive language.
4. Spitting - at anyone. Only a foul if at an opponent.
5. Denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity by fouling an opponent. This does not have to be tactical or intentional. It can be as simple as accidentally tripping an opponent from behind. The equivalent in football would be ejecting every time B fouled in the end zone or fouled A when the runner had only one defender to beat.
6. Denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity by handling the ball.
7. Receiving two cautions in one match.

So the bar for a send off is much lower in soccer. I've seen HS football refs not even through flags for actions that on a soccer field would be viewed as violent conduct and result in an ejection.

[TampaSteve]

I've seen HS football refs not even through flags for actions that on a soccer field would be viewed as violent conduct and result in an ejection.

Likewise, I've seen Premiere League actions that are glaringly embellished.

[txmustang68]

Shooty, as most here have said, you should have stopped the game when he was getting stupid.  I had a sv game with one of the idiots on the other side of the fence.  I stopped the game, had the admin talk to him.  They could not remove him as he was not on the field, but the point was made, and he zipped it.  Good thing - the next conversation he was having was with the ISD police officer.  Point being, this is a game where kids are, and there is no room for that behavior at any time.  I would say that 17 minutes of that behavior and the push afterwards are on your shoulders. 
 

[clydesummers]

I have to say I'm about ready to hang it up. I'm not new to officiating this is year 5 of football and I did 7 years of soccer proior to that. However, it's gotten to the point where what is accepted behavior by coaches and fans is way over the line. I really want to write an open letter to coaches and administrators and let them know that when they say they have no decent veteran officials that they may just have brought it on themselves.

48 minutes of screaming at me an having my wife called a lover just isn't worth the $70.
[/quote]

I share your feelings.....I understand that the NCAA will be looking at sideline issues for the upcoming rules conferences and I welcome any improvement in rules interpretations/enforcement especially pertaining to sideline behaviour. I experienced a similar situation last Saturday and it is not a good look to stop a game to deal with this sort of issue. It is important that security be provided at all game venues and when this occurs it is dealt with immediately. I officiate games where there is no apparent security and I plan to incorporate this issue in the pre-game meeting with the coaches and clearly state the plan I intend on using in absence of the League's plan or lack thereof.
Do not toss in the towel over an isolated incident just make sure the administration is aware of the potential and is prepared to act immediately. And this requires for you to act immediately.
BTW: in 2 weeks of officiating in a new area I have ejected 1 coach and 1 player - all for dissent. Do not accept it for one minute.
PS: anyone interested in reading a great section on dissent: BAFRA Mechanics Manual. This manual is better than anything published in the US especially for starting/young officials.

[AFSST]

Clyde, where can I find a copy of the BAFRA mechanics manual to read of what you speak?

[Kalle]

Clyde, where can I find a copy of the BAFRA mechanics manual to read of what you speak?

http://www.refstripes.com/forum/index.php?topic=9340.0

[Gtesli]

THe BAFRA manual is good for starting officials who haven't necessarily grown up with football, but in some ways I find it to be too "obivous". Also, in Europe (I officiate in Norway) there are some differences in philosophy.

[TampaSteve]

It is important that security be provided at all game venues and when this occurs it is dealt with immediately. I officiate games where there is no apparent security and I plan to incorporate this issue in the pre-game meeting with the coaches and clearly state the plan I intend on using in absence of the League's plan or lack thereof.
Do not toss in the towel over an isolated incident just make sure the administration is aware of the potential and is prepared to act immediately. And this requires for you to act immediately.
BTW: in 2 weeks of officiating in a new area I have ejected 1 coach and 1 player - all for dissent. Do not accept it for one minute.

Generally, security-related items (plus showers, etc.) are addressed in the contract/agreement. - so if security is not there (and they should be because it was agreed upon) you do not start the game.

[FredFan7]

I assume you were the HL.  Where was your referee?  Did he hear any of this? 

Vulgar language is enough to get sent out, but I agree with all others, once a threat is made, it is time to have the offender removed at the least.  I'd also have the police brought in as well.  You don't need to make a big, long, production out of it, but there is not place in sports for that dad's behavior.

You don't know how many times I've quit at about 11:30 on a Friday/Monday/Thursday night.  Give yourself time to breathe, talk to your mentor or someone in your association that you respect, and let some time pass before you make your final choice.