Millions of Facebook readers watched with horror at the actions of two young football players as they physically assaulted a referee during their Friday night football game--and now, people are finally realizing that something needs to be done about fan and players' behavior in all sports--not just football.
It was just a couple of years ago that an irate player took a tennis official's cell phone and threw it over a two story building and we regularly hear of confrontations between parents, players, and officials in the tennis world.
Crazy fans and parents abound and the vast majority are there to have a good time and enjoy the sport they are watching--but there are a few that ruin everything for everyone.
Tennis officials frequently discuss the issue and wonder what to do... The UIL in Texas is still debating about what to do with the two players who assaulted the referee, their coach, and their team so the decision is not an easy one to make. Just because its a difficult decision doesn't mean we don't do anything at all! The UIL has huge powers to penalize offenders but sadly, politics often take precedence. We had an incident a couple of years ago in which we had a high school match in which parents were verbally abusing officials and police officers had to be called to remove the offending parents. A player on one team verbally abused the opposing coach with obscenities and at the district meeting the offending coach said, "Nothing happened. The referee made it all up"--and they believed it! This is in spite of an assistant athletic director testifying that she was at the match and everything happened exactly as it had been reported...
So, what do we do? Here are some suggestions for tennis officials:
* Always maintain a calm demeanor when dealing with irate parents, players, and coaches.
* Meet with coaches before matches and spell out how offensive actions will be handled.
* Immediately report any incidents of unruly or disruptive behavior.
* Check out the facility and know where the exits are.
* Do not be afraid to call the police if a situation gets out of hand.
* Be fair and unbiased in your decisions.
* Do not let a parent, player, or coach abuse you in any way. This is simply not permitted.
Check out the links below. The first is a link to the video of the football game in which the referee was assaulted and the second is an article in today's Ft. Worth Star Telegram.
http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/09/07/watch-two-high-school-football-players-target-hit-referee/
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article34600308.html
2 comments:
Say randy, what finally happened to the guy who threw the phone away? Did the official get a new phone paid for?
The player was suspended for a year by the DTA, the official got no money for a new phone, and the USTA Texas Section did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. And thus you know yet another reason that players are out of control.
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