Referee Barricades Himself In Locker Room Calls Police On Crazy Parents

As everyone knows by now hockey parents and coaches can be intense. Sometimes this is taken to unsafe extremes by some teams. One such instance happened in a game in Massachusetts.

Referee Calls Police

In a game that took place a referee had to make the difficult decision to call the police and barricade himself in their locker room for safety. He says that the game started out pretty normal and calm. The second period is when coaches and players from one of the teams started becoming upset and violent.

After the referees returned to their locker room they were followed by the upset parties who were yelling and threatening the referees. After the refs closed their door parents and coaches started banging on the door and continued to yell.

It was at this point that the referee decided to call the police.

You can hear the referee say they walked off in the middle of the second after they had threats. He sounds like he is scared for his safety from the individuals trying to break down the door as anyone would be.

Referees Continue To Be Put In A Tough Spot

Like a lot of positions in youth sports referees are hard to find. They are overworked and likely underpaid. Some of these referees are minors which makes the verbal or physical altercations they have to endure even more heinous. For sports to be safe though referees are needed.

Going forward one of the focuses of youth sports organizations and their governing bodies is helping protect referees. From a team side, it should be teaching players, coaches, parents, etc. respect for the referees. From a governing body standpoint giving referees training and protocols for what to do if they feel harassed. Resources to deal with anyone harassing them as well.

While parents, fans, coaches, and players will always have disagreements with referees this was over the line. Hopefully, as time goes on we see fewer of these altercations as teams are reminded that referees are human too.

As Read On - Blade Of Steel - Referee forced to barricade himself in referees room while he calls the police

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