Massachusetts Hockey Says 'Severe' Ref Shortage Is Due To Abuse From Parents, Coaches And Players

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, WBZ

Massachusetts Hockey Says ‘Severe’ Ref Shortage Is Due To Abuse From Parents, Coaches And Players

By CBSBoston.com Staff | October 6, 2021 at 8:26 pm | Filed Under: Boston News, Massachusetts Hockey

BOSTON (CBS) – Massachusetts Hockey youth programs are dealing with a severe referee shortage, and according to the organization, the main reason is abuse from coaches, parents and players.

Hockey referee Eugene Binda says he’s seen it all in his more than 40 years of officiating on the ice.

“Chokeholds, punched a couple of times. I think that’s what is escalating the fear out there because we don’t know what people are going to do anymore.”

The abuse is enough that the Massachusetts Hockey Association (MHA) says it’s down nearly 900 referees, almost half of its roster, leading to game cancellations and referee burnout.

Since the start of the current season, Mass hockey said it has already seen several “troubling incidents.”

One official needed a police escort after a game featuring 8-year-olds. In other instances, Mass Hockey said a female referee quit in the middle of a series of games because of parent harassment, a parent came onto the ice trying to get to a referee, and a parent went into the scorer’s box to berate an opposing player over a penalty committed against her child.

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[Moostache]

1. A long while ago I was a youth baseball umpire...

I did it at first in high school and college for little leaguers and softball. Then I got into travelling teams and high schools and was out of umpiring within a year - and this was 28 years ago now...today? With the evils of social media and the incredible over-entitlement of kids AND parents? There is not enough money in the world to make that loss of human decency and personal dignity worth sacrificing.

Our society is profoundly sick, and one of the accelerants of this disease and incivility is anti-social media. Facebook is a Mean Girls burn book gone viral for all...Instagram is body dysmorphia and crystallized deadly sins for freaking teens....Twitter is Goebbels's worst desires brought to life - a consequence-free, all pervasive propaganda machine with the ability to make good people do horrible things FREELY.

The best thing that could happen today - well, second best, because the best thing every day until it happens is Donald Trump dying of an excruciating accidental death - would be a complete loss of ALL social media apps forever. It is concentrated poison, marketed to children and addictive personalities and used to warp minds to cause people to "need" the feedback, the adulation, the fake lives and he over-glorification of wealth to promote consumption.

Things have always had bad actors - like unruly parents and entitled kids - but there is a megaphone now that did not previously exist and that is social media amplification.

[Irish_Dem]

2. Americans have become entitled, immature and violent. Social contract is dead.

Social norms mean nothing.

[Laurelin]

3. I was a youth soccer referee

I'm not surprised. A parent once assaulted one of my fellow referees. It was a stupid move because the referee's day job was attorney, so it cost the parent a hefty sum and a lifetime ban from youth sports. I was happy.