When a losing coach burst into the officials' room to berate the crew following a game in California, one of the referees hit "record" on his smart phone, capturing the incident on camera. We recap the action with "Postgame Abuse: What to do," a video pregame discussion for an unsportsmanlike event that hopefully will never befall you.
Despite umpire and referee locker rooms serving as safe havens for officials after a charged contest, there nonetheless exists the rare occasion upon which a frustrated person will invade the officials' space with the express intention of conveying some semblance of unsportsmanlike conduct.
Disclaimer: If the locker room invader is a coach or other team personnel fresh off the floor or field, these following guidelines will apply. If the intruder, however, is an unruly fan or other non-sports person, proceed straight to
Step 4.
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| Technicals and ejections only go so far. |
Step 1: Record video. The proliferation of smart phones and video technology has made documentation so much simpler. After all, video is extensively used in the stands, so take a page from this playbook and have accessible your video recording device, just in case.
Step 2: Tell the intruder, in no uncertain terms, to leave. It probably won't help much in the moment, but upon video review after the fact, your instruction will go a far way in establishing the malcontent's failure to comply.
Step 3: Don't argue. Because jurisdiction has ended, don't try and serve a technical foul or ejection; either would be non-binding. Although the defensive mechanism inherent within umpire scapegoating remains a psychologically logical outcome, its real-world manifestation of projection and blaming remains rather irrational. In other words, the intruder—having already broken rules and crossed lines—isn't up for measured discourse, and argument or discipline can only serve to inflame a negative situation.
Related Post:
Gil's Call: The Blame Game (Umpire Scapegoating) (8/8/14).
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| On-field, it's a bump. Off-field, it's a crime. |
Step 4: Call for help (security). If a crime is committed, call the police. For the most part, it is illegal for a person to touch another person without the victim's consent. During a game, implied consent exists when participants voluntarily elect to enter the playing surface, but afterward, there is little doubt that anyone other than an official (or official's invited guests) in an officials' room is unwanted and, thus, any potential touching would be unwanted. If unwanted touching follows
Step 2, that only serves to further drive home the point.
Step 4a: File your report. If the police were involved, you'll have a police report. If not, you'll still have a report with the person who assigned the game, the league, conference, governing body, etc. The report should be factual as to what occurred and video evidence can prove quite beneficial as a supplement.
Step 5: Share the video if necessary. The reason
Step 3 exists is because an official, despite having concluded the game and jurisdiction surrounding the game, is held to a high "always on duty" standard, and because a reasonable person would expect that the governing body will judiciously resolve the situation (e.g., by punishing the offender). By adhering to "silence cannot be misquoted," an official also can avoid charges or accusations that he or she aggravated the situation by talking or shouting.
However, sometimes supervisory staff can fail to respond adequately to a situation. Furthermore, as media coverage has demonstrated, sportsmanship deficiency remains a societal problem. In order to effect change, it sometimes is necessary to publicize instances of poor sportsmanship so as to decree its unacceptability.
Related Label:
CCS - Umpire Abuse.
Video as follows:
