Adult behavior at youth sports getting worse, making it harder to find officials to call games.
Nebraska Examiner Press Release
By: Paul Hammel
LINCOLN – Sports referees called on Nebraska lawmakers Wednesday to increase penalties for spectators, parents and coaches who assault them in the heat of an athletic contest.
During a legislative hearing at the Capitol, they described growing incidents of verbal and physical abuse and assaults of officials and a need to impose tougher penalties – in this case a felony with the chance of imprisonment – to quell the threats and head off a shortage of referees.
“Fans are getting out of hand, and it’s starting at the third-grade level,” said Montsho Wilson, who schedules referees for the Metro Conference and youth sports in Omaha.
Wilson said that since October, officiating crews had ejected 26 people from buildings due to threatening or abusive behavior. Three of incidents involved physical violence, he told the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee.
“We’ve just lost our sense of decorum … it’s gotten quite unreasonable,” said Scott Earl, a former referee and now a deputy Sarpy County Attorney.
Bill aims to make folks think twice
Under a bill introduced by State Sen. Bob Andersen of Gretna, assaulting a sports official would be punishable by a Class III-A felony, which carries up to three years in prison and 18 months of mandatory post release supervision, as well the possibility of a fine or probation.
In November, a spectator punched a 35-year-old referee following a youth sports contest in Sarpy County. The spectator, 40-year-old Joshua Littrell of Omaha, was charged with misdemeanor assault, which carries up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Littrell has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for a pre-trial conference in March.
Anderson said his Legislative Bill 657, dubbed the “Respecting and Ensuring Fairness for Sports Officials Act,” was spawned in part by the assault of Marcus Marinkovich in that incident, as well as by a 2023 interim study that looked at why there has been a shortage of sports referees willing to do the job.
That study was conducted by Niobrara State Sen. Barry DeKay, a long-time referee of high school and college sports, was meant to address the dwindling number of officials.
A survey of referees as part of that interim study found that 33% of officials working high school sports contests have considered quitting due to sportsmanship-related issues.
More than half responded that they had been verbally threatened by a spectator, 20% reported being threatened by a coach and 10% said they had been threatened by a player. About 14% said they had been physically threatened by spectators.
“What I’ve seen and heard, something needs to be done,” DeKay said.
Real impacts on officials
Marinkovich’s father, Pete, said that his son has struggled with medical bills and lost wages since the assault. The father said he’s officiated at high school and small college football and basketball games, but that he’s seen more problems at youth and club sports games and tournaments.
There were no tournament officials or security to protect his son, the elder Marinkovich said, after he ended a youth basketball game early due to the unruly conduct of one of the teams and their fans. A video of the assault shows a group of adults crossing the basketball court to confront Marcus, who was slugged in the back of his head as he tried to walk away.
“There’s no repercussions” for bad behavior at youth sports contests, Pete Marinkovich said, and less supervision of conduct by teams and fans.
Dozens of games could be going on at one time at a youth sports tournament, referees said, with only a couple of tournament officials present to patrol.
In contrast, the Nebraska State Athletic Association (NSAA), which governs high school sports, has training programs, supervisors of officials, athletic directors and administrators who care about sportsmanship and proper conduct of fans. Coaches who get too many technical fouls are required to take sportsmanship classes, at their expense.
“If you get ejected from a [youth sports tournament] game on Saturday night, that coach is right back in there on Sunday morning,” Marinkovich said.
Harder road ahead
He said he no longer referees at youth sports contests because of the conduct of parents, though his son is still at it. However, he is more choosy about which club sports he officiates.
While referees told the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee that they’d feel safer if they knew there were more serious repercussions for assaulting a referee, a lobbyist for the state’s criminal defense attorneys called LB 657 unnecessary.
Spike Eickholt, the lobbyist, said that there are already laws governing assault, and if athletic directors wanted to send a message, they could announce to fans before a game that assaults can be prosecuted as a Class 1 misdemeanor.
A fine of $1,000 and up to a year in jail is “not a slap on the wrist,” Eickholt told legislators.
The Judiciary Committee took no immediate action on the bill following the hearing. The committee would have to vote to advance the bill for debate by the full Legislature.
