Question Number: 29705

Law 5 - The Referee 9/15/2015

RE: High School

Kemberly of Ravenna, OH United States asks...

A ref had complained that a parent made 2 comments during a game. She questioned if he knew where the outbound line was. He complained to the AD at which he approached the parent and asked she not say anything else during the game or the ref will eject her. She obliged. After the game words were exchanged and he threatened to eject her from 2 games, a home and an away game. If the game is over and no one is on the field does he have the right to eject this parent from future games? Thank you

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Kemberly
Referees have no control over who attends games. They only control what happens during games and even at that it is not the referees responsibility to actually deal with or eject spectators. The referee can request the home team authorities such as game manager, home official, AD to speak with /remove someone for irresponsible behaviour otherwise the game will not continue. After the game all the referee can do is report any after match incident to the relevant authority who would then decide on any sanction by way of suspension from attending future games.
Now whether that information is helpful or not is questionable. The crux of the matter is questioning decision making of referees to a point where there is a need to speak to / remove someone from the game or indeed getting involved after the game with words exchanged. If everyone follows the NFHS Code of Ethics and in FIFA games its Fair Play Code these type of incidents would not arise.

Answer provided by Referee Joe Manjone

Kimberly,

High school soccer rules do not cover the behavior of spectators except that a referee may terminate a game for spectator disorder. (NFHS Rule 18-1-1nn on Page 71 of the NFHS Rules Book.)
The procedures for dealing with unruly spectators is left up to each state's high school athletic association and in most states, the referee is not to deal with the spectator but when a spectator problem exists, go to the game manager (often the athletic director or an assistant) and ask them to deal with it. The game manager can then take the needed action to defuse the problem and prevent it from happening again. This could include removing the spectator from the contest and restricting him/her from attending future contests.
If the game manager is not able to defuse the problem, the referee can terminate the game as indicated above. However, the referee should not be confronting or carding any spectators.

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