Fan conduct impacting high school officials

The New York Times-
Unruly Sports Fans Sending Some Officials to the Sideline
By MARK HYMAN
Published: June 4, 2010

Carl Wilkinson stopped officiating high school football games in Eugene, Ore., about five years ago — after irate spectators chased him and the rest of the crew from the field to the locker room, then pounded on the door demanding that they open it.

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Ryan Gardner for The New York Times
Carl Wilkinson gave up his whistle five years ago after fans at a high school football game chased him and his crew to a locker room after a game.
“It was just getting horrible,” he said of the fans’ behavior.

Bill Srna recently decided to hang up his whistle after about 30 years as a referee at high school basketball games in Salina, Kan. He said he had grown weary of the hysteria over every backcourt violation and charging call.

“It gets old night after night,” he said, adding that he prefers the relative calm of his full-time job as a firefighter.

Looking for part-time employment in a field in which hundreds of onlookers can raise a ruckus over one’s honest mistake or no mistake at all? There are plenty of openings.

Around the country, it has become harder to find youth sports officials and to keep experienced ones on the job. The situation has forced some games to be postponed and others to be played with short-handed crews. In some places, it is not unusual for football referees to work two games on long and exhausting Friday nights. Spot shortages are also common in soccer and volleyball.

“Are we desperately short? No,” said Jack Folliard, the executive director of the Oregon Athletic Officials Association. “But we are struggling to get enough officials.”

The cause of the problem is not a mystery to those in striped shirts, who are growing weary over abuse from agitated fans, most of them adults.

“I have officials specifically tell me that’s why they’re not renewing their licenses anymore,” said Fran Martin, the assistant executive director of the Kansas High School Athletic Association. “They’re tired of putting up with the behavior.”

The same concerns keep potential recruits from considering the job, said Henry Zaborniak, the assistant commissioner of the Ohio High School Athletic Association. He says he speaks with young athletes about becoming officials someday, and they ask a standard question: Why would I want to take that abuse for $35?

Despite surprisingly long hours and modest pay — about $40 for a junior high basketball game in Oregon — officiating has a lot to offer, youth sports officials say.

“It’s like a friend once told me,” Srna said. “ ‘I love the game of basketball, but I ran out of eligibility. This is the way I can stay in it.’ ”

Two years ago, the Ohio association asked officials to name the worst part of their jobs. Poor fan behavior was the No. 1 answer. In another poll, the National Association of Sports Officials asked high school administrators in every state to choose the biggest reason officials do not reregister from a list of 14. The most frequent answers were poor sportsmanship among spectators, and poor sportsmanship among coaches and players.

To complicate matters, disputed calls that inflame parents and other adult spectators now live forever in cyberspace. Type “controversial call” and “high school” into YouTube’s search engine, and it returns dozens of videos. (One titled “Ref Ruins Finale to a Great State Championship Game” had about 38,000 views.)

“It isn’t like 30 years ago when the game was over, it was over,” Zaborniak said.

How the numbers of officials nationally have been affected is hard to measure. A sampling of state high school associations suggests the count has been relatively unchanged the past few years.

“When the economy tanks, our numbers go up,” said Mary Struckhoff, the assistant director of the National Federation of State High School Associations. “When times are good again, the same people ask, ‘Why the heck would I do that?’ ”

Officials in basketball and soccer need the thickest skin. Folliard, who referees high school basketball in Oregon, recalled leaving the court after a close game when he heard someone call out, “Hey, ref.” As he looked up, a fan doused him with a full cup of soda.

At an Ohio high school soccer game last fall, Kathleen Dolan issued a red card to a player for taunting. That call stirred one parent to deliver to her door a DVD of the YouTube video showing the disputed play and a letter explaining that she had misinterpreted the situation.

“All I can say is I found it excessive and intrusive,” said Dolan, who is also the president of the Ohio Collegiate Soccer Officials Association.

Many state associations offer classes to help officials deal with unruly fans. The best defense, though, may be a witty retort.

Wilkinson, who is still an umpire for girls’ softball, explained how he handled one hotheaded fan. He removed his mask and calmly said: “Sir, I’m going to try very hard to allow you to stay at this game. I want you to try very hard to stay here too.”

Wilkinson added, “I didn’t hear another word out of him after that.”


Mark Hyman is the author of “Until It Hurts: America’s Obsession With Youth Sports and How It Harms Our Kids.”


This is not a new story, but has been an issue for years and even though some legislatures have developed laws making it a felony to attack a sport official, there are more incidents than ever. One of the reasons for so much pressure is the massive potential scholarships or revenue that can generated by top athletes. Parents see sport participation as their ticket to wealth or saving a lot of money on college. That is why they are pushing their kids, coaches, and refs to help their kids out. Unfortunately the reality is that most kids are not talented enough to go pro or if they receive a scholarship- it is often much less than parents had paid to cover the cost of travel teams. Thus, parents off go overboard, without reason, due to greed. It is amazing what people do for money or the hope of money.