TSSAA to start fining schools for fan ejections

[MidTennFootball]

1 minute ago, TryNotToSuck said:

So, what if a fan gets ejected, and no one knows who he/she is? Which school is getting the fine?

TSSAA continues to create crazy ideas where there are more questions than answers.

 

Host school

[crazzyness]

It's about darn time for something like this to be implemented. If the hosts school's game administration would act proactively instead of reactively, 95% of fan issues would be resolved before there was ever need for anyone to be removed from the game. 

[strongx]

2 hours ago, crazzyness said:

It's about darn time for something like this to be implemented. If the hosts school's game administration would act proactively instead of reactively, 95% of fan issues would be resolved before there was ever need for anyone to be removed from the game. 

Yessir!!

Winning team, losing team, scoreboard! SCOREBOARD!

[cbg]

6 hours ago, crazzyness said:

It's about darn time for something like this to be implemented. If the hosts school's game administration would act proactively instead of reactively, 95% of fan issues would be resolved before there was ever need for anyone to be removed from the game. 

Since when has the TSSAA ever been proactive?  The TSSAA is the most politically charged and inept organization in the State of Tennessee.

[Random1234]

On 7/14/2023 at 4:34 PM, MidTennFootball said:

Host school

So if your student section is on the road and one of them gets tossed, the home team aka the opponent will get fined? 

[crazzyness]

On 7/14/2023 at 11:27 PM, cbg said:

Since when has the TSSAA ever been proactive?  The TSSAA is the most politically charged and inept organization in the State of Tennessee.

Sure, the TSSAA, as a whole, is completely inept, with poor leadership. That said, what does that have to do in particular with this matter?

The TSSAA has no way of controlling spectators at any particular sporting events at any particular time. Game administration, on the other hand, does. Be it the AD, principal, or whoever is assigned the job that night, the game administrator's job is to make sure the event goes smoothly. That includes getting a handle on rude, disrespectful, and belligerent fans BEFORE it becomes an issue.  

[crazzyness]

On 7/14/2023 at 4:32 PM, TryNotToSuck said:

So, what if a fan gets ejected, and no one knows who he/she is? Which school is getting the fine?

TSSAA continues to create crazy ideas where there are more questions than answers.

 

When in the history of interscholastic sporting events has some no-name vagabond, with no ties to either school, appeared out of thin air to pay admission into an event so they can make a scene and be ejected, just to disappear like a fart in the wind never to be seen or heard from again?

 

Let's be realistic and leave the strawman arguments at home. 

[MidTennFootball]

18 hours ago, Random1234 said:

So if your student section is on the road and one of them gets tossed, the home team aka the opponent will get fined? 

Good question,  but I'm going to assume it's still the host school they are in charge of security for the game. Guess we won't know unless it happens. I am glad they are taking steps to curb fan behavior. At the current rate, refs are gonna get scarce really quick

[cbg]

31 minutes ago, crazzyness said:

Sure, the TSSAA, as a whole, is completely inept, with poor leadership. That said, what does that have to do in particular with this matter?

The TSSAA has no way of controlling spectators at any particular sporting events at any particular time. Game administration, on the other hand, does. Be it the AD, principal, or whoever is assigned the job that night, the game administrator's job is to make sure the event goes smoothly. That includes getting a handle on rude, disrespectful, and belligerent fans BEFORE it becomes an issue.  

I completely agree that fans that are out of control must be dealt with in a timely fashion.  The issue at hand is what is being disrespectful, is it cursing, giving the officials the middle finger, or just screaming at the official that they made a bad call?  This all must be clarified and the TSSAA, game administrators and officials can’t just make these decisions based on their personal feelings.  What are we going to do if someone from Nashville shows up to watch a game between Knoxville Farragut and Morristown and begins to act like a fool but has zero ties to either school?  Are you just going to levy a fine to the home team because an idiot happens to show up at the game on their campus?

[cbg]

14 minutes ago, MidTennFootball said:

Good question,  but I'm going to assume it's still the host school they are in charge of security for the game. Guess we won't know unless it happens. I am glad they are taking steps to curb fan behavior. At the current rate, refs are gonna get scarce really quick

Officials are leaving not due to the fans but due to two factors:

1.  In past years had judges, physicians, businessmen, etc.  that officiated games because in their younger years they played the game at a high level and want to stay involved in the game.  For whatever reason those individuals rarely ever get into officiating and now we have people that didn’t play the game at a high level and are doing it as a major source of income.

2.  If the pay is increased you will see more qualified individuals get involved in the game.  Like Dorris Armstrong once told me “all of these people say they are officiating for the kids but if you ever stop paying them they will stop officiating”. Simply put most people want to be compensated fairly for their work. 

I officiated for over 25 years and I only ever remember having one (1) fan ejected.  If the official walks into the gym like a professional everyone will know that they are in charge and rarely will confront them or act like a fool.  As an official you stop the game and give a verbal warning to the disobedient fan and that normally eliminates all issues going forward.

[TryNotToSuck]

3 hours ago, cbg said:

Officials are leaving not due to the fans but due to two factors:

1.  In past years had judges, physicians, businessmen, etc.  that officiated games because in their younger years they played the game at a high level and want to stay involved in the game.  For whatever reason those individuals rarely ever get into officiating and now we have people that didn’t play the game at a high level and are doing it as a major source of income.

2.  If the pay is increased you will see more qualified individuals get involved in the game.  Like Dorris Armstrong once told me “all of these people say they are officiating for the kids but if you ever stop paying them they will stop officiating”. Simply put most people want to be compensated fairly for their work. 

I officiated for over 25 years and I only ever remember having one (1) fan ejected.  If the official walks into the gym like a professional everyone will know that they are in charge and rarely will confront them or act like a fool.  As an official you stop the game and give a verbal warning to the disobedient fan and that normally eliminates all issues going forward.

This is spot on. I can tell which officials are officiating for money compared to officiating for the "love of the game" based on mechanics, shape, and effort.

[crazzyness]

4 hours ago, cbg said:

Officials are leaving not due to the fans but due to two factors:

1.  In past years had judges, physicians, businessmen, etc.  that officiated games because in their younger years they played the game at a high level and want to stay involved in the game.  For whatever reason those individuals rarely ever get into officiating and now we have people that didn’t play the game at a high level and are doing it as a major source of income.

2.  If the pay is increased you will see more qualified individuals get involved in the game.  Like Dorris Armstrong once told me “all of these people say they are officiating for the kids but if you ever stop paying them they will stop officiating”. Simply put most people want to be compensated fairly for their work. 

I officiated for over 25 years and I only ever remember having one (1) fan ejected.  If the official walks into the gym like a professional everyone will know that they are in charge and rarely will confront them or act like a fool.  As an official you stop the game and give a verbal warning to the disobedient fan and that normally eliminates all issues going forward.

Friend, with all respect, if you think the drop in officials isn't directly correlated with the increasingly brazen and disrespectful behavior displayed by fans (mostly parents,) you've been out of the vocation too long to give an accurate assessment on the matter. Nearly everyday, you can scrounge through regional newspapers and find fresh stories about officials being abused/assaulted/mugged/stabbed/shot. These aren't isolated incidents. This is a growing reality.

 

Retention rates and want for better pay are factors too, but those are both directly tied to the disrespectful, all too often violent behavior being shown towards officials anymore. If fans weren't as bad, we could retain more officials. If pay was better, we'd have more officials willing to put up with it.

 

Concerning retention rates, in my local association, I'd imagine our 3 year retention rate for new officials is around 15%, especially in basketball and baseball. If we could just get one in three new guys to stick around, we'd be bringing in more than are retiring every year, but folks don't see putting up with the abuse as worth it. 

Edited July 17, 2023 by crazzyness