In response to my article about when I would file a complaint against a ref, Coach Beez pointed me to a video on his blog showing a player who loses his temper. You can read a summary of what exactly happened here.
Coach Beez says that the refs must make sure they have full control of the game at any given time. This means that they should prevent escalations as soon as they arise. I can totally relate to this because I’ve been a ref for a couple of years now and had around a handful similar situations where players clashed with eachother. In these cases I always stopped the game, called both of them to me an warned them for a technical. There were times when this didn’t help and so I called a double foul. This helped and the game continued normally.
The point is, as referee you should know what normal and legal body contact is. Coach Beez mentioned it can be very helpful to decide whether it is a legal body contact or not when you have been a player yourself. This helps in deciding to make a call or don’t.
My advise is: For the sake of all involved (other players, coaches, spectators) … make that one call early enough and at the right time before things get out of hand!
In the end I hope that this player gets a reasonable penalty for attacking an official. Fights are such an ugly thing and each one of us involved in our favourite sport has the responsibility to uphold the sportsmanship and the spirit of the game.
What was your worst behaviour you have witnessed? Please let me know and share your experiences!
