CLEVELAND — Umpires and referees are skilled at calling plays and dodging balls on the field or court, but what’s become more common once the final whistle blows is officials trying to dodge parents and coaches.
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Al Ivy has been officiating football, basketball and baseball here in Northeast Ohio for more than 30 years. He says he’s never seen what he’s seeing now.
“You’re walking to your car with your bag and all of a sudden, you’ve got two parents yelling at you, chasing the umpire out of the parking lot," he says. "Now what kind of example are you setting for your child?”
In fact, Ivy tells us the new practice for officials is “everyone stick together and leave together” rather than walking to their vehicles alone.
It’s just as bad or worse during the games with actual fighting in the stands. Ivy says he was officiating a game in North Ridgeville one year when a kid got hit on the sideline. Ivy says he saw a mom jump up yelling and another mom walked over and hit her. He says police were called and one of the women went to jail for assault.
He worries about how violence in the stands impacts the athletes who are playing.
“It’s wrong because that’s what you taught your son or daughter, that if it don’t go right, you fight. You’re teaching him the wrong thing.”
He says the chaos has an even more cutting impact on the young athletes.
Ivy also says he will never forget one situation involving a pitcher at a U11 baseball game a couple years ago.
“He couldn’t throw a strike for nothing in the world because his mom was yelling at him. I had to stop the game and talk to him and I said, ‘What’s wrong?’ He started crying on the mound. He said ‘my mom.' I went over there and told her, ‘Ma’am, listen. He’s crying because of you. If you don’t want to see the game and act right, why don’t you just leave and let this kid have fun because he’s only 11 years old.’ After that, he had fun, starts smiling, playing and throwing strikes because his mom left him alone."
It’s been a gradual escalation, alarming some Ohio leaders who’ve attempted to halt the violence and threats. In 2019, the Ohio High School Athletic Association released a letter about their concern that the constant berating of officials by adults is the primary cause of a deep shortage of high school referees. The letter cites a survey by the National Association of Sports Officials that indicates more than 75 percent of all high school officials say “adult behavior” is the primary reason they quit. And 80 percent of young officials walk away from their positions after just two years.
The letter was blunt, stating, “If there are no officials, there are no games,” and telling parents to "cool it."
And just last year, Brook Park City leaders passed the “Disorderly Conduct at Sporting Events” legislation, declaring anyone who “physically confronts, causes harm to or creates an atmosphere where an official can’t continue the game without stopping play” will face a third to first degree misdemeanor.
Ivy says the shortage is real and they are, indeed, losing younger, 20-something talent in the officials arena that could prompt games to be canceled or delayed. He says it’s because of the verbal abuse and fear of physical harm from fans.
Even spikes in pay -- $100 per high school game and $65-$75 per game for JV or middle school -- isn’t enticement enough to keep younger officials in the game. And Ivy says as the older officials retire, the number of available referees and umpires will keep dwindling.
In all fairness, Ivy admits that sometimes they get it wrong. It’s just human nature.
“We’re going to blow calls. We’re human, just like your kids or the coach. But you play seven innings in baseball and you play four quarters of football, four quarters of basketball. That one call didn't blow that game.”
He says officials strive to get it right because the kids are their motivation, the kids are why officials show up. And they want to do right by them.
“When parents come by and say, ‘Al good game,’ and they lost, that means I did a good job. Or when the kids come to me and say, ‘Al, good game. I know we didn't win but good game anyway,' that means you did a good job. But if you do a bad job and then the next time you go (to a game) they're like, oh God, we got them again. I don't want that. I never want to see a child or a player say that to me. That will kill me. Because the fact is I do it for the kids. I don't do it for nobody else.”