BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Massachusetts Youth Soccer extended their misconduct rules to include spectators after U.S. Soccer updated its national regulations.
New misconduct rules from U.S. Soccer were put in place to protect referees from coach and player abuse, which includes cursing, screaming, insulting the refs, and threats.
These regulations, however, do not extend to those watching the games, something that Mass Youth Soccer Executive Director Rob Holliday felt was a major issue.
“If you ask any child or any teenage player their experiences and how they feel when their parents are overly aggressive, they would tell you that they’d prefer to play without them there,” he said.
Holliday said how the all-too-common bad behavior from spectators without any discipline has led to its persistence all across the country.
“There were behaviors that became normalized on the sidelines that really shouldn’t be there,” he said. “It’s not just a Massachusetts problem, it’s systemic and it’s a nationwide problem.”
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To combat these problems at the local level, Mass Youth Soccer expanded their own misconduct regulations to include spectators.
The consequences of breaking these rules can range from suspension to a lifetime ban from spectating if the situation is serious enough.
Holliday said that the implementation of these rules all goes back to player retention.
“That’s really the goal,” he said. “It’s to provide the environments that kids enjoy playing soccer in, that they will continue to come back and play soccer in.”
WBZ NewsRadio's Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.