A Kentucky House bill advanced on Wednesday would make it a misdemeanor to intimidate officials from youth levels all the way up to college. The legislation is House Bill 220.
If the legislation becomes law, offenders could face up to a year in jail for threatening to injure a sports official or damage a referee’s property. Actions that could substantially harm a referee’s business or finances would also apply.
In 2019, referee Kenny Culp was infamously sent to the hospital after a youth basketball game in Paducah where he was confronted, punched and knocked unconscious causing him to sustain severe bodily injuries. Since this incident, there have been similar bills introduced in the Kentucky Legislature.
Jackson Strong, a basketball referee in Northern Kentucky’s 9th Region, is supportive of the introduced legislation.
“I think officials are expecting to get comments like ‘that’s a bad call’, ‘that’s a walk.’ What we don’t expect is the physical attacks,” Strong said. “I think it’s good in general that people are going to be held accountable. Hopefully this bill gives some teeth to the law to go after some of these folks for their behavior.”
Republican Rep. David Hale, a former high school sports official, stated Wednesday that abuse directed at officials has decreased the pool of people who want to do the job.
“I’m not talking about just an irate fan in the stands that’s hollering at the official,” said Hale, lead sponsor of the new bill. “It just goes far beyond that.”
Julian Tackett, Commissioner of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association, has reported a 25 to 30 percent drop in the available pool of officials.
“Turnout is at an all time low. My son is 7 years old. I think he’ll be able to get through high school sports and not have any issues as far as officiating shortages,” Strong said. “I don’t think my grandkids will have the same semblance of high school sports that we had. I think there needs to be a serious recruitment of officials to the game.”
According to the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, there are more referees over the age of 60 than there are under the age of 30. Project Play discussed issues facing youth sports officiating with Barry Mano, founder and president of the National Association of Sports Officials.
“We get calls every week here regarding physical assaults and invariably 80% are at the youth and club level,” Mano said.
