The Vancouver Island Amateur Hockey Association is threatening to kick hockey moms and dads out of the stands after rampant abuse of both players and referees by some spectators.
VIAHA president Jim Humphrey issued the ultimatum in a letter he posted to the association’s website last Friday.
In it, Humphrey said that the “problem of spectators abusing on-ice officials and players during minor hockey games has become such a serious issue that VIAHA Executive Committee members are considering a ‘Spectator Free Weekend.’”
Under such a scenario, Humphrey wrote, the “cold” area of all Vancouver Island arenas would be restricted to players, officials, game supervisors, association staff and league officials.
“Referees would be instructed not to start games until all spectators have left the cold area and/or to stop the game should spectators access the arena during the game,” Humphrey warned. “Should spectators refuse to comply, the referees would have the teams leave the playing surface, thus cancelling the game.”
The association would then launch an investigation to determine which team the offending spectators are affiliated with, “and rule accordingly.”
Humphrey said Tuesday that the association hopes it does not have to resort to taking such drastic action. He hopes that the national attention his letter has received helps get the message out to parents.
“If there’s 100 parents in the stands watching a hockey game (and) if there’s four that are being disrespectful, we’re hoping the 96 will rise to the occasion and politely figure out a way to shut the four up,” Humphrey told CTV’s Canada AM in an interview.
“Because if they don’t, that means that 100 of them will be watching their children play from the warm side of the glass in a hockey rink.”
The problem of parents abusing referees and players is not new to the association, Humphrey said. Over 20 years, the group has tried different ideas to curb abuse, “and nothing we’ve ever tried over the years has worked.”
They tried asking the home team’s association to control the crowds in the stands, but that had little success because parents don’t want to have another adult tell them what to do.
“They feel that it’s their right to chastise the performance that, in their eyes, is going on on the ice,” Humphrey said.
They’ve also tried having team managers in the stands for crowd control, but managers are reluctant to get involved because they have to deal with the parents for the entire season.
Humphrey says “this is one of the worst years” that the VIAHA has ever had, “and this is the first time that we’ve lost more game officials than we can recruit.”
The association needs 1,100 referees each season, and they typically lose 200 or 250 each year.
VIAHA vice president Dan Payne said this year, bad parental behaviour has “peaked.”
Parents are leaning over the glass during games to yell at referees, and are going so far as to corner the officials in parking lots after games.
“We’ve had referees come off the ice crying,” Payne told CTV Vancouver.
Referee supervisor Hank Aarsen says he’s had parents tell him that “it’s their right to yell at 13 or 14-year-old kids.”
The VIAHA has yet to make a decision on whether to go ahead with its spectator-free weekend, Humphrey said Tuesday. But if there’s anybody other than him who doesn’t want to see it go forward, it’s the players themselves.
“If you score a goal, there’s nobody there to watch or cheer for you,” said one player.
