The Limits of Tolerance

REPUBLISHED FROM REFEREE.COM

Understand when behavior crosses the line in sports.

Basketball official Marques Pettigrew speaks with Valparaiso men’s coach Roger Powell Jr. during a conference tournament game.

Sports officials encounter differing degrees of behavior while on the job. A zero-tolerance policy is unrealistic, but there are limits to what we should tolerate during a contest — and those limits aren’t the same for everyone. For example, a comment shouted from the 10th row of the bleachers is evaluated differently than one coming from a team captain. Something said by a professional athlete is typically treated differently than a coach in a youth tournament.

Though every official has boundaries of acceptance, this “limit of tolerance” identifies different segments of the sports contest equation and how we should evaluate their behavior, generally. Unsporting behavior by anyone on the basis of race, religion, gender or national origin must be addressed. Otherwise, the following groups are listed in descending order, starting with whom officials should be most tolerant.

Fans

Be more tolerant of fans than any other group. From top to bottom, fans are usually the least educated in the rules, mechanics and philosophies of officiating and, therefore, more likely to verbalize frustration with a judgment or outcome. In the collective mind of the crowd, they have paid their money for the right to boo the officials. Develop thick skin for commentary hurled from the stands. Work to ignore the noise unless it becomes threatening or racist, or the environment starts to become unsafe for you or the participants.

Never respond to fans. Doing so only encourages their interest in harassing officials. At higher levels of play or in venues with larger crowd sizes, increase your tolerance from fans compared to lower levels. Profanity hurled from the stands at a professional football game, for example, is treated differently than the same behavior at a youth soccer match.

If behavior rises to the level that someone needs to be removed from the premises, stop the contest and involve game management or site administrators. Don’t think you can take matters into your own hands; it only creates a potentially dangerous situation for yourself and your partners. If the behavior is not extreme, consider a warning from administrators to fans before elevating to ejection.

At professional and major college levels of play, many instances over the years have presented situations where fans throw small objects onto the playing surface. If a wayward object makes its way onto the playing floor, have game management issue a warning to the crowd. If an object is directed at an opponent or official, remove the offender immediately. If the offender cannot be identified, or if the behavior triggers a chain reaction of throwing objects, consider having management remove all fans from the area where the behavior was observed. Delay the resumption of the contest until the situation is handled to your satisfaction and the participants can resume without issue. Record all necessary information for postgame reports without worrying about delaying the game. Pay special attention to the time of the game, parties involved and direct quotes of harassing language or abusive actions.

Head Coaches

By quantity, this is usually the smallest group involved in any sporting event. Head coaches are often under intense pressure to have their teams perform and are, therefore, naturally going to create conflict for officials. Most often, conflict arises from a biased viewpoint and is usually explained with, “I’m just fighting for my team.” Use preventive officiating whenever possible and tolerate a bit more from head coaches than you would from other participants. Work with them to improve behavior unless it becomes a distraction or is personal in nature. At that point, they leave you with no choice but to penalize.

Starting Players

The fact of the matter is that fans come to sporting events to watch the players. Officials should use preventive officiating to keep players in the game, not to mention the quality of the play is usually better and our job is easier when the starting players are involved. If preventive officiating fails, then penalize.

Assistant Coaches

This group gets a little bit of leeway when complaining about a given officiating decision, but not much. They certainly should be held to a different level of tolerance than head coaches because inviting interaction with every assistant could make for a chaotic situation. If an assistant coach approaches respectfully with a question or concern, work to answer or rectify the situation. If they participate in “ganging up on the officials,” the behavior must be penalized. Assistant coaches can be utilized to help control players and head coaches who might start to get out of line.

Bench Personnel

Other individuals on a team bench or in a team bench area get little to no leeway for behavior issues. Reserve players, team managers and trainers have jobs to do that do not involve officiating. If you sense someone might become an issue, go directly to the head coach and allow him or her to fix the behavior before it gets out of line. Most often, the head coach appreciates the information and the opportunity to rectify the problem because the last thing he or she wants is to be penalized for the actions of bench personnel. If verbal disagreement is boisterous or profane from this group, consider penalizing without warning to keep control of the contest environment.

Scoring and Timing Personnel

Most often, scorers and timers are from the host school or team. Some of them, especially at lower levels, can get caught up in rooting interests. Before the game, get ahead of any potential issues and remind them they are an important part of the officiating crew and need to be neutral.

When a person at the scorer’s table, or elsewhere in the venue with scoring or timing duties, makes comments or gestures that question the judgment or integrity of the officials, it must be dealt with immediately. Based on the nature and degree of the behavior, consider reminding the individual about being an impartial member of the officiating team. If the actions are unsporting, have that person removed by the administration. Your job as an official is difficult enough; don’t put up with misbehavior from administrative personnel.

Cheerleaders and Mascots

This group of game entertainment individuals gets as close to zero tolerance as any. Cheerleaders and mascots are present to fire up a crowd, not to be involved in officiating matters. Don’t let proximity to the playing surface be abused by these individuals. If a direct warning takes care of minor issues, great. However, for any words or actions that rise above minor issues, make sure to direct the administration to remove the individual.