The Problem

Dissent at the fields, with coaches & parents yelling at referees, parents of one team going at it with parents of another team, or parents yelling at players of opposing teams, is a continuing problem. Unfortunately, in some scenarios, it leads to physical interactions.

At the start of every season, thousands of players & their families look forward to having fun at the fields. Youth referees also look forward to the beginning of the season, and what it holds, but many have a degree of anxiety already forming. Coaches are focused on the ‘challenge’ for what the season may have in store for their team.

All of these perceptions are intertwined and will have an impact on how the season goes for all parties.

The main culprit that affects all is the atmosphere that exists at the fields, when the games are being played. Is the atmosphere conducive to having fun, and encouraging to both players and referees, or is it corrosive, affecting both the play of the players and the performance of the referees? Parents provide a vital framework for a youth player and they internalize commentary heard from their parents, in their field demeanor. Listen to what a nine-year old soccer player wrote, regarding parents:

History has shown that the corrosive atmosphere of coaches & parents at games, badgering the referees/opposing players/coaches/other parents, is detrimental to the game. It can cause depression in players/negative actions on the field towards opponents/referees, and affect their ‘fun’ aspect of the game. Both referees and players have elected to stop being involved, due to the increasingly negative ‘vibes’ that have existed at some games. For referees who do stay, their performance may be negatively affected, as they may effectively feel ‘cornered’. Players may play lacklusterly, as the game is beginning to not be ‘fun’ anymore.

New Potential Legal Liability

There is another area that a parent needs to keep in mind, potential liability. In December of 2021, a new legal stance was taken by a California court, a parent was held accountable for encouraging physical action taken against an opponent. With this door now open, future actions could follow. Consider the comments that are sometimes heard from parents at the field, such as ‘don’t let them push you’, ‘stand up for yourself’, etc. These comments could be construed by a player to ‘take action’. Just as in the recent case, the parent could be held responsible for an opposing player being physically struck/tripped/etc., on purpose, by their child, due to commentary from the parent.

The same could apply to continuous dissent coming from parents from a team. Any player on the team could view the continuous stream of dissent as open verification that their team was being treated ‘badly’/’improperly’, and they could strike out in frustration at an opposing player. The parents involved in the ‘dissenting’ commentary, directed at referees, could be held accountable, as a team group.

Major Side Effect Of Dissent At Fields

Negative commentary from spectators and coaches, over the past years has been a major reason that many referees stop refereeing.

Yes, that’s right, spectators and coaches drive referees away from the game. It is not realized that the referee is really NEEDED, until some one has a game with NO referees, or a reduced number of referees. They don’t like that, as the game is NOT the same without a referee crew.

The referee ‘crisis’ is happening across the country, as basically the referees started getting fed up with their conditions, and the soccer organizations have not always been adept to properly respond to the crisis.

Read this to understand the current dilemma. It takes a good while to produce qualified and stabilized referee crews.

What Needs To Be Done

Leagues cannot basically sit on their laurels to combat this issue. They must aggressively handle the issue. In pre-season meetings with coaches, they must make it absolutely clear to the coaches that negative behavior toward youth referees will not be tolerated, in any degree. With the signing into law of the federal ‘SafeSport Act‘, a new factor comes into play. Youth Players and Youth Referees are covered under this new federal law, which forbids items such as intimidation, harassment, bullying, and actions that may affect the mental well being of a player/referee.

Leagues must have also established a communications/point of contact mechanism for coaches. If a coach has an issue, they would use this mechanism to vocalize a perceived issue at the fields, rather than ‘going off’ on a referee/opposing coach, at the field. The mechanism must provide immediate feedback to a coach, which will prevent the issue from festering, or the coach believing that they are not being listened to. The same applies for a parent who has an issue they wish to convey to the league. It is the leagues responsibility to ensure that the coach/parent is aware of the feedback path.

Leagues could have a brief ‘Laws of The Game’ meeting with the coaches, pre-season, to go over the laws and to answer questions that a coach may have about a law. This would help educate the coach on the laws, so that they are in tune with what the referee is enforcing. A coach previously educated on Laws of The Game may not be educated in the current laws. This same laws meeting may be good for any league member that is working with coaches, as they should understand the rules that coaches are playing under. The laws can change, leaving a coach/board member out-of-step with the current definition on enforcement of any particular law.

If the league wanted to go all-out, a consideration could be on having an ‘Introduction to Soccer‘, for parents, which explains briefly the laws of the game, what a parent’s resources are within the organization, and playing opportunities available within the league. This would help familiarize a parent with soccer, alleviating any frustrations due to a lack of knowledge. This would be a time to give a parent a ‘sneak peak’ into refereeing, by letting the parent become aware of the ‘training ladder’ that a youth referee goes through, before becoming ‘seasoned’ (i.e. typically youth referees in the U9/U10 age group are ‘green’, in the usage of the three person system, and are just getting introduced to the world of ‘fouls’/offside).

Leagues must attempt to ensure that they have league board members, at the fields during games, or assigned ‘field marshals’, to handle issues that a coach/parent may have. These parties must be thoroughly familiar with the soccer rules of play, and may benefit from having taken a referee class (this would give them an inside view of how the soccer laws are handled, and what it takes to enforce them). To be effective at the fields, these parties need to be roving the fields, and in some manner be ‘visible’. If there are multiple parties at the field, they should not all be sitting together in some spot, just chatting with each other. This does not serve the practical purpose of over-sight at the field, and attempting to head off small fires, before they turn into a conflagration.

Soccer parents must be informed of the leagues position on negative field behavior of parents and coaches, and as to why it is important to maintain a positive atmosphere at games. Parents should be presented with educational materials, which can be done in a variety of ways:

- A flier handed out to each registering party, at registrations.
- An email sent to parties that register their player on-line
- A ‘welcome to our league’ document, sent to all registered parties, at close of registration. This would inform the parents of what the league expects from them, what they can expect from the league, and what the season will be like for their player.

The information in all of the above should talk about how parents influence the game playing experience, and what negative atmospheres do to the players, and to the referees. Included in this should be how the league will handle any negative atmosphere issues created by a parents at the league fields. It should be made clear that any party that appears to be a disruptive influence at games, may face being barred from participating in league activities.

Another part of this is a league official, who may want to constantly play a situation down as being ‘no issue’, simply because they do not want to deal with having to handle it and confront people. They can become part of the ‘issue’ itself, by wanting to ‘look the other way’.

There is another question which a league can ask itself: Who is taking the time to ensure that players are educated on the basic laws of the game. There are some basic laws, which can cause a player to become frustrated during play, if they are not versed in avoiding violating these specific laws (offside is one of them).

In summary, educating all parties as to what negative field mannerisms do to the game of soccer, informing them of the penalties of such action, and providing educational material showing what the negative behavior does to the game atmosphere/attitude of players & referees, and the willingness to continue in the sport, for all, is a step toward keeping the game ‘fun’.

All parties that attend the soccer games look forward to having ‘fun’, and enjoying their day at the fields. All parties have the right to expect this to happen. The leagues have to actively pursue policies/procedures/educational means, to ensure that this happens. It will not happen if the league adopts a ‘passive’ position, and just ‘reacts’ to occurrences.

California Law For Sports Officials

If a party takes physical action against a sports official in California, they are breaking a state law, in the ‘Penal Code of California’. This Penal Code law states:

California Penal Code Section 243.8

CA Penal Code § 243.8 (2017)

(a) When a battery is committed against a sports official immediately prior to, during, or immediately following an interscholastic, intercollegiate, or any other organized amateur or professional athletic contest in which the sports official is participating, and the person who commits the offense knows or reasonably should know that the victim is engaged in the performance of his or her duties, the offense shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000), or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.

(b) For purposes of this section, “sports official” means any individual who serves as a referee, umpire, linesman, or who serves in a similar capacity but may be known by a different title or name and is duly registered by, or a member of, a local, state, regional, or national organization engaged in part in providing education and training to sports officials.

Many other states have laws like the above, for the protection of sports officials.

PAD COMMITTEE POLITICS

The effectiveness of a PAD committee, in prescribing the correct degree of disciplinary punishment can sometimes be affected by favoritism, or ineptness of PAD committee members. The operating board of the organization should be kept fully informed of actions rendered by the PAD committee, during closed board meetings.

It should be ensured that the PAD committee meets immediately, upon notification that an issue is being forwarded to them, and that PAD action is announced immediately. There should be full documentation of PAD committee actions. To avoid conflict of interest, there should be no PAD member who has a relative/friend/significant other, who comes before the PAD.

Dedicated work must be done, continuously, to ensure that events like the following do not happen:

DISCLAIMER: THIS WEBSITE DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE

The information, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material contained on this website are for informational purposes only. The purpose of this website is to promote understanding and knowledge of soccer and soccer health related matters. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen, and never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. Soccer information is related to players playing in Cal North/CYSA soccer organizations.

Jack's Soccer Page

recreational soccer and concussion information

Dissent At Fields