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Pushed by a referee; what recourse do I have?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Mateo, Oct 20, 2007.

  1. I only know what Christ would have said to wrong-brained, but it's best not mentioned ...
     
  2. StaggerLee

    StaggerLee Well-Known Member

    I've had a similar thing happen to me before and I suggest you handle it the same way I did back then. Call his association's office on Monday and before you get into what happened, make sure that you were where you needed to be on the field. In other words, get the head of his association or whatever to say you were within your designated space, and then get into what happened.

    I did that and the next day, I got a phone call from the official apologizing to me. We ended up having a 20-minute conversation and now when he sees me at games, he treats me like a long-lost friend.
     
  3. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    solid post.
     
  4. wickedwritah

    wickedwritah Guest

    You are joining the short list of yahoos here:
    chazp
    deeper_background
    LBSE
    JDV
    rokski
    rokskis2, 3 and 4

    I'm sure there's a few others to add here. (I'll exclude the political folks, for now.)
     
  5. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    Two wrongs don't make a right.

    Best thing to do is address it with the guy and possibly his superior after the game. I nearly got into it with an opponent in a company softball game at my last journo gig and after we argued for a second or two, we made up during and later AFTER the game. Some of it may just be heat of the moment stuff.

    If he confronts you and treats you like shit after the game, that's a whole different story.
     
  6. SportsDude

    SportsDude Active Member

    I'd let it go. If it happens again, and you are sure you are in the right, contact the local ref's association or his boss and go from there. The officials I've dealt with in the past have been pretty sensitive to the press, I'm surprised they would do something like that.
     
  7. pressmurphy

    pressmurphy Member

    Not for nothing, but being "more than a yard away from the field of play" is not sufficient for your safety or the safety of the players and officials.

    That might be adequate for a player on the sideline, considering that he's in pads and did some stretching before the game and after returning from halftime.

    But a one-yard margin of error is not sufficient for someone who does not have (a) a need or (b) a right to be on the actual playing field. And it's not enough of a buffer zone for a guy holding a video camera up against his face, thereby cutting down your field of vision.

    And don't tell me your vision wasn't impaired. You got plowed over by a guy in a zebra costume, for God's sake.
     
  8. Hank_Scorpio

    Hank_Scorpio Active Member

    You're right. Look at any college stadium. The dotted line for photogs and other people on the field is a good five yards (or maybe its more) behind the out of bounds line.
     
  9. zeke12

    zeke12 Guest

    Two pages and no one has suggested an upper-decking or a Comet-bomb?

    What happened to you, SportsJournalists.com? You used to be cool.
     
  10. KYSportsWriter

    KYSportsWriter Well-Known Member

    Like someone else already asked: Are you sure the ref actually shoved you? I mean you were turned away from the direction the ref had to have been running and were concentrated on the play happening downfield. You couldn't possibly have seen whether he just ran into you on accident while trying to catch up to the play or if he actually shoved you.

    I know I'm young, but here's one word of advice that a ref gave me a few years ago at a game: Get. The. Fuck. Outta. The. Ref's. Way.
     
  11. BillyT

    BillyT Active Member

    Were you on the field?

    If you weren't, I would follow it up with a call to the head of the officials' board to let him know.
     
  12. imjustagirl2

    imjustagirl2 New Member

    WFFW.

    Three feet? You want to give a guy who's doing his job, an OFFICIAL job, three feet to get past you and your camera? If you were close enough to get a guy on the sidelines from 40 yards away, then you were right on the field. Sorry, angles tell me that.

    You were completely in the wrong here. Refs have the right of way in EVERY situation that close to the field. Don't call, don't talk about it...just back the fuck up.
     
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