I don't know what happened before the video, but in that video sure looks like the ref threw the first punch.

Looks like he did but why is the guy in the yellow shirt even out on the court talking to him? Was he the coach of just a parent. And the kid running up and getting in some punches is crazy. They should just let the parents ref.

I would agree. Hard to believe that the other guy was silently videotaping him immediately postgame, but who knows for sure.

What in the F@%K is wrong with people.

This is a kids game.
Bad call or not that is part of the lessons learned in sports.
Parents Coaches etc. Stay your but in the stands.

Yellow Shirt guy.... Arrested and Prosecuted
First Kid hitting ref suspended

This is not "player vs player" scraps which is a part of the game process.
This just plain dumb.

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2017 Cervelo P2
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The kid's no stranger to fighting. He/she was on it start to finish and trying to do damage.

That's not suspension-only behavior. Community service at a minimum.

Dude should be banned from reffing games indefinitely. No excuse for swinging at that guy.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

You never know what the guy in the shirt said to him, but I would agree the ref cannot throw the first punch. Just have to take it and walk away. If the guy in the shirt throws first, then you can fight back.

I reffed HS bball for extra money in college and I was terrible at it. Pretty good player, terrible ref. Probably the hardest sport to ref. I got yelled at from the start of the first whistle to the end of games. Often had notes on my car in the smaller towns I would go to for reffing. The unkind and threatening type of notes. Such a thankless job.

That kid throwing punches should be kicked out of that league forever. No second chance, you never get to play again, period.

Watching again, it looks like the ref was smacking the phone away while the guy was in his face recording him. Looks to me like the first punch came from the other guy, but regardless, you don't put your hands on someone like that just because they're filming in your face.

Who knows what happened prior to or what was being said in the moment. Context always matters to a degree.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

Wow- we played 7 softball games this weekend - had the best umps - one ate at least 8 of our team donuts and told us jokes all day. He even pitched to our catcher for warm ups (and he had a good change up).

I cannot imagine having to deal with this. Switch to softball - we will give you unlimited donuts and cold drinks.

I get that's youth sports, but I also think there should be some sort of line between umpires and teams. They are being paid to do a job - and that job needs to be unbiased.

I'm glad you had good umps, but I also think they were a bit unprofessional. (I do like that they joked around with the teams though).

The kid throwing punches should never play another game not only in AAU but high school or college. Obviously his parents haven't instilled any values in him so he needs to be out forever.

We had a lot of people decide that donuts were a good idea. We were giving them to anyone who wanted them. Opposing team coaches included. I can see your view point- and might agree if there was something really on the line- but it was a fun summer tournament. We had a big taco bar on Saturday under a tent.

Sometimes the umps even line dance with the girls and have dance offs at the more relaxed tournaments. Other sanctions are more serious. So there’s a place for all.

When I was in college, I signed up to ref HS water polo for some extra spending money. Quit after a couple games. The two things I learned:

1. Knowing how to play or even coach the game is not a substitute for knowing how to referee the game.

2. Parents are assholes.

In other words, I wasn’t very good. And there was no tolerance for mistakes, even though most of those complaining were just wrong.

Sounds like a fun time for everyone.

X / Twitter thread is titled, "... ref made a bad call....", so there's that. I'm guessing the call/non-call occurred just minutes earlier. But would've been good to have more before/after video too.

The game has ended, w/kids walking off after already packing bags. But clearly still sore enough to get back into it.

I wonder why ref is lingering, especially if there's negative vibes. Read the room so to speak. Sign whatever paperwork needs to be signed and move on. Doesn't excuse bad behavior of parent/coach/adult, kid, and kid brother(?) I assume.

I expect league would have some kind of sanctions or bans -- even if it is rec level. Should be zero-tolerance type of call.