MESA, AZ — More game officials and referees say they’re being harassed by parents, coaches and student-athletes, and those numbers are continuing to grow.
The Arizona Interscholastic Association, says in last year, they had to force out nearly 1,400 student-athletes and parents from games because of verbal abuse.
That’s up from the roughly 1,100 the year prior.
Brian Gessner, the State Commissioner of Officials for the AIA, expects they’ll surpass that record this week, too, and they’re not even tracking the number of parents or fans in the stands that have to be ejected from games.
“We’re having gymnasiums being cleared. We’re having entire stands being cleared because of abusive behavior,” Gessner told ABC15.
Rob McKinley, an AIA official, has been officiating for about 20 years now. He said he loves the job, wanting to give back to the kids since he was impacted by his officials back in his sports-playing days.
However, it’s becoming more difficult, as he’s also been berated by fans.
“It has absolutely moved to a point where it is degrading, the experience the official has, and with that degradation, it’s been where officials don’t want to come back next year,” McKinley said.
He said it’s hard to not take the verbal abuse personal. Saying people are yelling, not only about their calls, but also about their families.
There have also been times where people approach officials in the parking lot.
“Sometimes our judgement fails us and we make the wrong decision. I just don’t think that when we make the mistake, that there’s any forgiveness anymore,” McKinley said. “In that moment, this is the most important thing in our lives. Hopefully as parents, in our trying to nurture young people, we can try and understand that there are way more important things than maybe a good call or bad call.”
Gessner said it’s been difficult to retain officials in the AIA because of the verbal abuse. They’ve been trying new things such as putting a big emphasis on sportsmanship, including a sportsmanship appreciation week and are now working with school districts in trying to recruit more officials.
“Until we get our hands on it, we’re going to continue to see this national decline, and eventually there won’t be people to officiate these sports,” Gessner said.
He added that it’s not only happening in high school sports, it’s also happening in sports clubs for younger students.
Todd Sergi, the Arizona State Referee Administrator, says they just started tracking reports last year and the results so far have been “eye opening.” He tells ABC15 more verbal abuse comes from parents in games where students are 14 years old or younger.
“It's really troubling when you get those reports, particularly when you have reports of referees breaking down on the field of play in tears and not able to continue because of what's being said to them by parents and coaches,” Sergi said.
Sergi said there have been 62 or more cases reported from March until December, and he believes there are many more referees are not reporting.
“Our young referees, particularly female referees being questioned whether or not they should be on a men's game or a boys game. Whether or not they're capable of doing their job, have they ever played the game of soccer before? Do they even know anything about soccer?” Sergi recalled.
Officials and referees want parents to just enjoy the game with their kids and to set a example for them. They hope it won’t come to a point where games and matches will not happen because no one wants to be a referee or officiate.
“The fact that our parents lose their minds over their kids performances instead of celebrating their successes, and the fact that they can come out here and compete with one another and walk off the court, the pitch or the field as friends, as friendly combatants, if you will, it just amazes me,” Gessner said.
