Mouthy Parents At Little League Games Will Be Forced To Umpire Games

Little League season is underway and one New Jersey town is introducing an ingenious new rule to crack down on misbehaviour after parents were caught on camera berating and yelling at referees and umpires at youth games.

Referees and umpires are often volunteers or low-paying gigs, and it’s becoming an issue at Little League; parents yelling at the umps on calls they don’t agree with…

So now, the Little League officials in Deptford Township have created an innovative new solution to combat the trend. If a parent or another spectator fights with an umpire, they have to volunteer to officiate themselves for at least three upcoming games.

"People are very comfortable making officials uncomfortable, so it's about time that we've reversed the trend and started making people uncomfortable who are harassing officials," said Brian Barlow, who founded Offside, a Facebook page that calls out bad behaviour among youth sports parents.