There are reasons why the Fans are not allowed to Referee the game:
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1. Don't know the rule as well as they think. High School Rules are NOT the same as College & NBA Rules.
2. Personal bias towards their team clouds their perception of what is or is not a Foul/Violation committed by the other team or their team.
3. Despite their plaintive cries to "Call it BOTH ways," fans do not see the game "both" ways....My Ref partner ejected a fan in the First Half. The fan, evidently proud of his antics, took a deep bow to the crowd just before he walked out the door which was met with a loud cheer from his little group of fellow agitator fans. Remarkably, THAT group was conspicuously quite the rest of the game......
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Coming back to the court after Half Time Break the Security Person told me another fan in the lobby during Half Time said to him, "Those Ref's ejected my friend and they are going to have to eject me too!"
The Security Person did not identify the fan and I did not ask. I do not need to go looking for trouble...... but I will take care of it if it shows up.
Sure enough, we were barely into the 3rd Quarter when a fan bellows out some inane comment about a call my partner had just made. A very simple and obvious Foul Call, it was.
My partner's back was to the crowds, so he turned and asked, "Who said that?"
The fellow who had made the comment sat silent. Such courage! He can yell when the Ref's back is turned to him but would not own up to his conduct face to face. BUT a woman sitting behind him immediately, and vigorously, pointed to the fellow and with no hesitation said, "He did!"
It seems she was just as tired of his obnoxiousness as we were!
And so my partner ejected that fan, too.
The fan refused to leave, even to take a bow. It was not a stand off he was destined to win......
I trotted over the the Security fellow, who was engrossed in a conversation in the far & other side of the court with some school staff, not seeing the altercation, and told him we had just ejected a fan who refused to leave. Would he please escort the fan out.
"Which fan?" He asked.
I do NOT point to fans. I describe them to the Security folks, so I said, "The one in the back t-shirt next to the guy in the red & white cap."
"Yeah, that's the one who said you Ref's were going to have to eject him, too."
I replied, "Tell him his wish has been granted and make sure he is completely out of the gym,"
I think some fans who delight in being rude and hollering at the Ref's Do not realize:
1. These are High School Games. Not College or NBA where more outrageous behavior is tolerated, perhaps even encouraged. We abide buy the AIA Motto, "Pursuing Victory with Honor," I believe that standard should apply to the fans as well as players & coaches......
2. Other fans are NOT amused by their outrageous misbehavior. Belligerent fans detract from the other fans enjoyment of the game.
3. When ejected, the fan does NOT get to stand in the lobby and watch the rest of the game thru the doors or windows in the doors. They are sent completely out of the building where only a pair of x-ray Vision Glasses from a Cracker jack Box will help them see the rest of the game.
4. The game will not restart until the fan is out of the gym.
And the team for which those 2 fans thought we were making such bad calls?
1. Had FEWER Fouls called on them than the other team
2. Won by 20 points
So our "poor Reffing" apparently did not affect the team's ability to win, only a couple fans opportunity to see the whole game. A game they had to drive at least an hour to get to from their school and pay to enter. I hope they felt like they got their money's worth!
