Last night I had a wonderful evening officiating two well coached teams, Flower Mound and McKinney. The kids were respectful and wrestled well and the parents cheered them on. I felt pretty good and several of the parents that know me and some I just met came up and thanked me for a good job officiating. This was a marked difference than what happened 24 hours earlier at the Allen-Creekview Dual at Allen High School.

In 34 years of officiating, and 18 as a wrestler at all school levels, I have never witnessed or had such bile directed at me from a group of parents and fans.

The final score of the Dual was 44-18 with Allen taking the win. First, let me clarify that Creekview Coach Lopez and his kids were well behaved. They have good wrestlers and some that are young and coming up. I hope they stay after it.

It is early in the season and for some kids that are finding their way, they are not aggressive and everyone that has been around for awhile knows how I call stalling. Allen has a good team and they know how I call stalling and wrestled aggressively. Creekview for the most part wrestled tentatively and “not to lose.” This meant they were called for stalling and consistently so.

Probably 95% of all the calls went against Creekview and they were warranted because they were not wrestling aggressively. After each warning, caution or penalty, I always take the time to explain what the kid has done or isn’t doing that caused the call. That is why there is a warning for stalling.

I officiated the same as I always do but apparently these Creekview parents did not know me. It started with a whine “Be Fair Ref” directed at me to which I replied, “I am.” “No your not.” My fault for answering. How dare you insult my integrity.

Then came Booing by several on every call I made that didn’t go their way. “My kid is losing, It MUST BE THE REFS FAULT. Didn’t change the way I called it. I just kept calling the same way.

We then had a match where there was a dispute in the scoring. Normally, I keep the score in my head and check the scoreboard regularly to make sure the score is right and I can generally go back and recreate what happened in my head, but with 20 people screaming things directly at you, it broke my concentration. That was my fault. I should have tossed some people earlier. Anything or anyone who keeps me from concentrating on the match and calling the best match I can needs to leave.

It came down to us walking back through the score and looking at Tony’s scorebook and there was a question of whether there was one or two takedowns so we went with the official scorer who has kept score for me several times and does an excellent job.

I raised the Allen kids hand and the score was 8-6. The Boos really erupted and I turned and stared in disbelief at these people. I have never seen any of them and apparently they are used to TAWA. We do it a little differently at the High School level.

We then started the 180 lb. match and the kid from Creekview got a beautiful takedown but decided to throw a cross face from right field and I do mean he brought it all the way back before nailing the kid. I will give him credit that he pulled up just before he hit him but it was still for punishment as there was no reason to throw a cross-face when you are totally on top of the guy with both feet down behind him. Had he been to the side when he threw it, there is a setup from there. I could have called Flagrant but gave an Unsportsmanlike Conduct and these people came unhinged. Apparently, slugging your opponent is ok with these people as long as it is your kid delivering the blow.

I thought I had mellowed over the years but poor sportsmanship brings out my temper for so many different reasons.

I had already picked my two that I was going to toss and asked the officer to show the whiner and the Loud Boorish Booer who needs to trim him mustache to the front door. But we weren’t through yet. One of the men stood up and told me to ref fairly and I told him he could go out with the other two. This one almost made me laugh.
“When you get home, I hope your Momma slaps you.” Boy, that was good for right off the cuff.

It went along rather quietly after that until one of the boys from Creekview got a cramp while the Allen wrestler had his legs in. I stopped it and told him not to move because I wasn’t sure what his injury was. I guess it was Momma who had to tell me that “It didn’t have to go that far.” There was no torque or anything but he had a cramp and it was THE REFS FAULT. Lady, the debate team is a lot safer or try soccer as your group would fit right in.

Any lessons that could have been learned went right out the window because of these parents that became loudmouth adolescents. Backing out of bounds, countering without a counter-attack is stalling. It will be called on any kid the same way every match that I officiate and most of the better officials call stalling the same way I do.

We are trying to help your kids understand the rules and if they do something wrong we penalize and hope they learn.

I penalized two of the Allen kids for “Unsportsmanlike Conduct” after wrestling had ceased because they slapped the mat hard in disgust. This was the correct call. Jerry asked me if I would do that during a State Tournament. YES. If we are consistent though in the way we call it, the kid will learn that this is inappropriate behavior and not commit such acts if he makes it to State. I also asked Jerry if he WANTED his kids displaying that kind of behavior? He’s gonna get back with me on that one.

It was obvious to me that the rules aren’t understood by these people nor do they care. Some of the instructions they were yelling to their kids were totally inappropriate and they weren’t anywhere near a setup for what they were yelling for them to do. I feel bad for Tony and the kids as he apologized and one of the kids came by and apologized for the parents. I never had to apologize for my Father and my son and daughter never had to apologize for me. Why would a parent put their kid in that position?

Before every UIL meet there is a statement that is normally read before every contest that states that “Sportsmanship should be shown by all spectators, no matter which team they are backing.” Some schools require a sportsmanship contract with the parents that they will not act out and represent the school and team in a negative way. MOST of all, DO NOT EMBARRASS YOUR KID.

I was pretty sure those parents had crossed the line when I looked at Tim Bowen and his mouth was open but he wasn’t yelling at me. He was jaw-dropped at the behavior of these parents. Most of the Allen fans were the same I believe. The police officer that escorted me to the car was incredulous. He couldn’t believe it. He said he was just waiting for me to give him the word. Heck, don’t wait for me. Go get them and get them out of there before they make bigger fools of themselves.

It is amazing to me how much I improved the next night. I felt like I officiated the same way. I just sit back and watch the action and award points. If there is no action, I encourage it by calling stalling.

It could have been the differences in the crowd. Flower Mound and McKinney fans understood their role in the event. Cheer your kids on and don’t make a fool of yourself.

By the way, Allen’s parents conducted themselves as they always do. Properly.

It is really very simple. We each have jobs.

Mine is to officiate-if you were qualified you should be out there. You may know some of the rules but we have to know them all. Shucks, they give us tests and everything.
Coach-If there is a question, it is HIS job to talk to the official.

Fan- To cheer on their team. You do not have the right to talk to an official nor set a bad example for the kids. If you act up, you will lose your job and be in the parking lot waiting for the match to end.

There will be a UIL report filed and a hopefully the school board will deal with this. All officials will be briefed on this at our next meeting. We wont be laying for anyone but there is not going to be a repeat of this performance. I waited too long to start tossing people. That is a mistake I wont make again.
Time to grow up and act like a responsible parent.