KHSAA plan to address unruly fans will be difficult

I’ve been sitting on the sidelines of high school basketball games and working the sidelines of high school football games (not as regular) for 40 years now, and the news a few weeks ago that the KHSAA had taken a step to punish unruly fans gave me pause.

Sure, in those 40 years of being “right there” a few feet from the action, we’ve had a handful of “situations” that involved fans, but for the most part, it was quickly taken care of with an official asking that a school administrator either calming the fan down, or escorting him/her out of the gymnasium.

In this past basketball season, I can remember two instances where a fan was asked to leave the gymnasium, and both times it was a parent who was berating an official to the point that the official became more irritated than alarmed – in my opinion – and reached the point that he wasn’t going to take the mouthing any more.

In one of those instances, the situation involved a local fan, the other was a visiting fan. One instance involved a fan siting on the front row, the other a fan seated fairly high in the stands, away from the floor.

With this new regulation in place, beginning with this upcoming school year, any adult fan who is ejected from a sporting event, will serve, at minimum, a single event ban.

The hard part is going to be getting that rule enforced, and keeping up with it, especially when the back to back games involve a home and away situation, or vice versa.

In whole, the new policy states “any adult spectator (adult who is not listed on the current roster of coaches for the school) at any KHSAA sanctioned interscholastic event (scrimmage, regular or postseason contest) who is removed by school administrators or by law enforcement (whether or not referred by a contest official) for unsportsmanlike conduct shall be suspended from attending, at minimum, the next contest at that level of competition and all other contests at any level in the interim.”

In other words, get escorted out of a varsity game on Friday night, then that fan can’t attend the next varsity game, nor can he or she attend any junior varsity or lower level games sanctioned by KHSAA until that “same level” competition suspension has been served

I’m all for protecting our officials from irate fans, simply because getting good officials is getting harder and harder, and I’m sure a big reason is the abuse they have to take from fans who are oftentimes in high school games, just inches away from the action.

Whether or not this is the action that will solve any problems is yet to be seen, but I’m sure we’ll get a good test of it next season.

So, be forewarned – support your team and even your favorite player, but be careful when your criticism becomes abusive.

You might spend the next game listening to Sid and Sis on WANY!

In the meantime – let’s take it outside for a few months!