High school basketball referees don't want to monitor postgame handshake

http://www.lowellsun.com/sports/ci_8261431

Many officials in Massachusetts are concerned about being attacked by fans if they stay on the court after the game.
How is this handled in other states?

 

Refs here immediately leave the gym when the final horn sounds, unless the game goes to OT. The only time I've seen anyone try and confront a ref after a game, the police escorted the person away and out of the gym.

 

Soon as the book is right, they are out of there. Never heard of basketball officials monitoring a situation after the game is over

 

Refs here don't even stick around for that. They sign the book before the game and that's about it.

They usually come back after the gym is cleared and make sure everything is good to go in the book, after the scorer is done tallying everything up.

 

I don't blame the refs for bailing. I've seen plenty of people kicked out of the gym for disorderly behavior and vulgarity against the refs at basketball games. It's pretty sick.

 

Said that wrong. As soon as they get the OK sign from the timer and scorekeeper, they are gone.

 

Yeah, they're usually out of there right after the game.
And, I don't believe it's their responsibility at all to monitor the post-game handshake. I believe that should fall under the jurisdiction of each team's coach because it's a team thing. It's not a written rule (at least I don't think it is) that the teams have to shake hands. But it's a tradition of sportsmanship. The referees' job is to make sure the actual game is played under fair and equal conditions. Sportsmanship rests squarely on the coaches.

 

A player on one of the teams on my beat a few years back got cold cocked during the postgame handshake.
The police put the idiot in jail. The victim had no idea it was coming and required some major dental work.
Ironically, his father was a dentist.
It's a shame that people cannot be civil following a game.
I never thought about who monitors the handshake, though.

 

I don't want any basketball officials other than Ted Valentine getting decked. Teddy's been asking for it for years.

 

No coincidence that you bring this up just hours after February 14 has ended.

 

sounds like a high school ADs job to me.

 

If it's that big an issue then it should be the police who monitor the post game hand shake. I watch a pretty fair amount of HS basketball in my area and notice the refs leave quicker than the Blues Brothers when the final horn sounds.