sideline seating standards?

[Surfref]

My understanding for a long long time is parents sit across from their player bench, altho there may be some parents who may sit at one extreme end or the other based on their player.

At Silverlakes this weekend in 3 games it seemed parents just sat where ever. When one parent commented "oh, i thought we sit across from our bench" some opposing-team parents got pretty snippy about "we're the home team and we can choose where we want to sit."

Is that seating convention fading as kids get older, am I old fashioned? were those parents at this field just weird?

Team managers should be managing this and most tournaments have written into their rules that spectators sit across from their team. Usually the parents of the older kids know the rules whether written or unwritten. The parents of those U8-12 teams are just a hot mess.

 

[Surfref]

Surf did not enforce the rule. The teenage Field Marshall said it was a suggestion not a rule that could not be enforced. What a joke when it caused one parent to leave the area and another had to put in her headphones and tune out the game when the parent refused to go back to his side saying it was a free world. He was very distributive saying things about players and walking in front of our parents sitting in chairs when the ball can down our way.

CRL also does not enforce the rules. In fact I have never seen anyone enforce the rules, not even when a manager goes to talk to the other manager.

I actually enjoy when well behaved parents from the other team come over because I always seem to learn something interesting. Too bad even at the older ages the jerks still have not been weeded out.

It was enforced at the Surf Cup fields that I refereed on. The manager should have complained to the referee at halftime. It would have been fixed by most refs.

 

[Own Goal]

It was enforced at the Surf Cup fields that I refereed on. The manager should have complained to the referee at halftime. It would have been fixed by most refs.

When I was a team manager the referees were always responsive and helpful if I brought the matter to their attention. And I only brought it to their attention if the offending parties parents were out of line whack jobs.

 

[Nefutous]

It was enforced at the Surf Cup fields that I refereed on. The manager should have complained to the referee at halftime. It would have been fixed by most refs.

It happened right after half time since the teams switched directions the loudmouth and his wife had to move to be close to their defender dd. Unfortunately it was not enforced at Oceanside for the olders. We asked the teenage field Marshall to call someone higher up and they refused to even come over. We also tried to get the CR attention but could only get the AR who ignored us. We all just moved behind the goal to watch the rest of the game.

 

[timbuck]

It almost makes it worse if you complain and then have the referee tell everyone to move.
You get some meat head dad who will mumble under his breath about the “pu&&y a&& bitche&” that can’t handle someone cheering at a soccer game.

 

[RedCard]

It was enforced at the Surf Cup fields that I refereed on. The manager should have complained to the referee at halftime. It would have been fixed by most refs.

I agree about the enforcement at Surf Cup during the older weekend. At our game on Monday, we had a very “highly motivated” parent from an out of state team on our side just yelling and screaming. Our team manager went to the AR on our side and when the ball went out of play, he waved the young CR over. The CR did actually go over to that parent and asked she to return to her side of the half which she did. She did seem confused and was saying “I didn’t know we had to stay on one side.” which is hard to believe since the team was a former DA now going “all in” to ECNL team.

 

[ultimate20]

It’s only a problem if you have a screaming freak show asshole on the wrong side.

Which is way too common, sadly.

 

[timbuck]

Which is way too common, sadly.

It’s usually an overweight lady or a dude with giant muscles.
Or a lawyer who dares you to touch him.
If it’s the the overweight lady she is usually with a smaller dude who will “defend her honor” if anyone talks to her.

 

[redhood]

It’s usually an overweight lady or a dude with giant muscles.
Or a lawyer who dares you to touch him.
If it’s the the overweight lady she is usually with a smaller dude who will “defend her honor” if anyone talks to her.

Does the big girl or the meathead scare you more?

 

[rainbow_unicorn]

I let opposition parents sit on our side if they want to. I just make sure I'm screaming at the top of my lungs during the game. They usually move by halftime.

 

[redhood]

I let opposition parents sit on our side if they want to. I just make sure I'm screaming at the top of my lungs during the game. They usually move by halftime.

If they don't then try to identify which kid is theirs and yell for your players to pick on that kid because he/she is "slow" or "doesn't have it"

 

[timbuck]

I let opposition parents sit on our side if they want to. I just make sure I'm screaming at the top of my lungs during the game. They usually move by halftime.

It helps if you can borrow a baby that will cry the whole time.

 

[46n2]

The Legends team had a group of parents for years always taking the center line about 10 ft in each direction . Big Cholo dude , but when you asked they'd move but you definitely had to ask them to move, maybe some people don't understand.....

 

[timbuck]

There are some clubs that are notorious for this behavior.
Legends as mentioned above is one of them.
And any team that just came up from a signature type of league is usually pretty crazy. (AYSO United/PSC, etc)

 

[Grace T.]

And any team that just came up from a signature type of league is usually pretty crazy. (AYSO United/PSC, etc)

Extras has a technical zone requirement and the parents sit opposite sides....the bigger issue is parents sitting on the AR line of run: it's usually halfway into the season before things get sorted out and I on more than one occasion as an AR had to call the CR to handle the issue after politely asking the coach to clear the line of run. I learned the hard way my first time ARing an extras game when I ran into a parent standing on the run line (a guy who was twice my weight screaming at his DD). I agree Extras parents tend to be a bit on the crazier end because it's all about winning in that League, but at the same time I rarely have had fights to deal with or other extreme issues since the team would get penalized in the standings and coaches from either continuing on Extras or moving up to United. I started to avoid volunteering for Extras games as a result, but would often get pressure since fewer of the volunteers are qualified.

United parents (at first) can be just as crazy because: 1) it's what they know, and 2) they are clueless at first as to the way club works, but given AYSO has strict requirements on seating and behavior I'm surprised there would be seating issues with them.

 

[pewpew]

It’s usually an overweight lady....

This is the TA from a team in NorCal a few years ago playing at West Coast. The most annoying person I've EVER heard on the pitch. Yelling and screaming the entire game at all the players. It was non-stop. She actually yelled at the girls more than the coach.

 

[Supermodel56]

It almost makes it worse if you complain and then have the referee tell everyone to move.
You get some meat head dad who will mumble under his breath about the “pu&&y a&& bitche&” that can’t handle someone cheering at a soccer game.

Yeah, but you know what? At least he’s back on his side... and you get to sit there with a smirk on your face.

 

[Supermodel56]

On the flip side, there’s also those annoying parents that know they can’t keep their mouth shut and still sit at the center-line spouting their ignorant BS...

It’s like, really!?!

 

[redhood]

On the flip side, there’s also those annoying parents that know they can’t keep their mouth shut and still sit at the center-line spouting their ignorant BS...

It’s like, really!?!

I sit right at midfield line and pick apart the other team's tactics. It's psychological warfare against the opposing sideline.

 

[watfly]

To me the solution to sideline confrontations in youth games (parent v parent and parent v ref) is easy. Team and its parents on one sideline and opposing team and parents on other sideline with parents to the left of midfield. The benefits are:

1) No direct contact between AR and parents
2) Reduces contact between opposing parents and sideline sitting disputes
3) Coach has more direct control over parents behavior (which is coach's, not ref's, responsibility, although some refs prefer to engage directly with parents). This, of course, assumes coach isn't also crazy.
4) Reduces coaching by parents as coach is more likely to hear parents on same sideline (I've noticed significantly more parent coaching when parents are on opposite sideline)

Yes, parents should just behave themselves. But the reality is that its not happening. We had a friendly scrimmage (ECNL and DA B07) the other day without a ref and very little coach involvement. The players policed themselves and played freely, it was a refreshing and fun to watch kids play in this environment. Of course, one jackass parent had to ref and coach from the stands the entire time.