jillk60517
New Member
1. USA Hockey is an association of hockey organizations, coaches and officials for the game of ice hockey. It has approx. 600,000 members/affiliates nationwide.
2. As hockey is a passionate game, officials are given authority under the "zero tolerance" policy to eject players, coaches, spectators and any other individual they deem disruptive - here is the rule per their website:
Whenever the actions or words of a coach or player question the judgment or authority of an official and thereby redirect the focus of the game from the players to them, a bench minor followed by a misconduct or game misconduct, if it continues, should be called. Parents will simply be asked to leave and IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE COACHING STAFF to administer control to their fans when asked.
Members of USA Hockey are under the "terms" of zero tolerance in order to be a member.
3. The judgment of the official is an unaccountable issue and recently an issue came up that serves as the straw that has broken the camel's back - I feel, sincerely, that my first amendment rights are violated through intimidation by officials. The other night a parent who after-the-fact admittedly said he yelled out, "Where's the call?" (a penalty call was missed in his opinion) caused the official to stop the game, skate over to our entire section, address our entire section and said, "if whoever yelled that doesn't come forth, I'm ejecting this entire section of fans." No one knew what he was talking about. He was belligerent and aggressive and pointed right at us and looked at the man next to me who had said nothing and said, "Who wants to be an official here?" Jokingly the man pointed to the man beside him in the stands and said, "He's an official." (the man to whom he referred is a college football official). The hockey ref said, "You want to make remarks? Get out!" and ejected the innocent man from the game. The man said he was embarrassed at the public ejection when he had done nothing. He told the ref he had said nothing to him during the game and the ref seemingly enjoyed exercising his power by telling the man to leave. The man who actually did the yelling did not step up and was never discovered.
I hear stories from spectators constantly about the poor officiating and the stifling of spectators to participate as spectators. I have been to countless sporting events and refs have to have thicker skin. They get grief, that's part of being a ref. I want to know if there are any grounds for filing a lawsuit against USA Hockey & its officials for this unaccountable power to stifle the free speech of spectators in the stands with the goal of making them more careful about ejecting innocent people and stopping the game and drawing attention to themselves in violation of their own rule.
2. As hockey is a passionate game, officials are given authority under the "zero tolerance" policy to eject players, coaches, spectators and any other individual they deem disruptive - here is the rule per their website:
Whenever the actions or words of a coach or player question the judgment or authority of an official and thereby redirect the focus of the game from the players to them, a bench minor followed by a misconduct or game misconduct, if it continues, should be called. Parents will simply be asked to leave and IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE COACHING STAFF to administer control to their fans when asked.
Members of USA Hockey are under the "terms" of zero tolerance in order to be a member.
3. The judgment of the official is an unaccountable issue and recently an issue came up that serves as the straw that has broken the camel's back - I feel, sincerely, that my first amendment rights are violated through intimidation by officials. The other night a parent who after-the-fact admittedly said he yelled out, "Where's the call?" (a penalty call was missed in his opinion) caused the official to stop the game, skate over to our entire section, address our entire section and said, "if whoever yelled that doesn't come forth, I'm ejecting this entire section of fans." No one knew what he was talking about. He was belligerent and aggressive and pointed right at us and looked at the man next to me who had said nothing and said, "Who wants to be an official here?" Jokingly the man pointed to the man beside him in the stands and said, "He's an official." (the man to whom he referred is a college football official). The hockey ref said, "You want to make remarks? Get out!" and ejected the innocent man from the game. The man said he was embarrassed at the public ejection when he had done nothing. He told the ref he had said nothing to him during the game and the ref seemingly enjoyed exercising his power by telling the man to leave. The man who actually did the yelling did not step up and was never discovered.
I hear stories from spectators constantly about the poor officiating and the stifling of spectators to participate as spectators. I have been to countless sporting events and refs have to have thicker skin. They get grief, that's part of being a ref. I want to know if there are any grounds for filing a lawsuit against USA Hockey & its officials for this unaccountable power to stifle the free speech of spectators in the stands with the goal of making them more careful about ejecting innocent people and stopping the game and drawing attention to themselves in violation of their own rule.
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