Question Number: 22096

9/27/2009

RE: competitive Under 16

Bill Lovelady of grapevine, texas usa asks...

At a recent U12 competitive game, the players were located on one side of the field, and the parents in 2 separate covered bleacher areas on the other. One team had 3 coaches in the team area, and another coach in the bleachers. The coaches wore a distinctive shirt and baseball cap combination, so it was easy to see this was a coach with the club and not a parent. The coach in the stands was loudly coaching. VERY loudly coaching. Joy-sticking the players around the field. Annoying the parent groups from both teams. My Center was not concerned with the coaching from the bleachers at all, explaining he was fine as long as the yelling was not at the referees. I would have been tempted to ask the gentleman to refrain from coaching, given the league requires that coaching occur from within the technical area. Would you have addressed this during the game, or simply ignored it?

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

I find that spectators in the bleachers rarely affect what is happening on the field of play. They become background noise for the players. As a referee I would not become concerned about a coach screaming from the bleachers unless their conduct appeared to be affecting adversely the players on the field.

I once sent parent into the stands because his dissent made me think he was a parent (it turned out he was also an assistant coach). It would never occur to me to invite a screamer to come down from the stands into the technical area.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Parents are adults (most of the time). They have the means and the moxie to deal with another adult who can't keep his tongue between his teeth, whether at that time or later, through club channels.

Your job as the AR is to focus on the field, on the players and on what the referee needs from you. Forget about those folks in the stands. (You have stands? I'm SO jealous!!) They aren't close enough for you to trip over, so no worries.

Make like a duck and let all that noise just run right off your back.

Now, if this guy was at a regular field and just feet or inches behind you screaming in your ear, interfering with your ability to run the line or concentrate, then heck yeah, the referee needs to deal with it.
Wait until there is a dead ball situation, hopefully near you, and call the referee over, explain the situation and ask him to assist you. This is assuming you can't get him to comply yourself, with a little humor and/or persuasion.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Bill
The decision about management of the technical area is sorted before KO by the CR in his pre match instructions to the ARs, in particular the AR on the TA side as to what he wants and how he wants it managed. If the CR is happy for a coach to be in the bleacher so be it. That is his call. If the CR wants to follow the League instructions then he should insist that all coaches are properly located in the TA before KO not afterwards.