Question Number: 32190

High School 1/23/2018

RE: High School High School

Trevor of Danville, Kentucky United States asks...

This question is a follow up to question 32187

Well, I just found another KRS that may be used to justify a ref ejecting a fan for non-physical related reasons, but I am curious for your all's interpretations: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/statutes/statute.aspx?id=19854

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Trevor
We are sports officials not attorneys. The simple fact is that if a spectator is behaving in an irresponsible manner which is affecting the game the referee is entitled to ask the home club officials to get him / her to desist or failing that removal from the ground. The only sanction that the referee has is that if the situation is not resolved to his satisfaction the game can be terminated

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Trevor,
Like my colleague ref McHugh, I do not feel I am really qualified to answer questions of a legal nature, but would only concur with him that under either NFHS rules or the IFAB's Laws of the Game, a referee is ultimately empowered to terminate (abandon) a game in the case of spectator misconduct, of which the referee is the sole judge.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Echoing my esteemed colleagues. It is simply not appropriate to attempt to debate intricacies of legislature here given we are not lawyers. Referees are empowered to require the home club remove an individual who is interfering with the match (which verbal abuse can certainly do) or is otherwise engaging in what the referee perceives to be misconduct.
Doesn't matter if you've paid or not - handing money to somebody at a turnstyle doesn't puchase you additional rights to yell at the referee - and as said, if a spectator refuses to leave then abandonment is most definitely a valid option.
Personally I think that if I, as a spectator, was in such poor control of my behaviour that the referee determined that the game could only continue if i was not in attendance then I would be too embarrassed to try to stick around and try on some legal argument.
Turn up, support a team and don't abuse the referee and it won't be an issue.