Parents prohibited from watching Halifax youth basketball games after poor behaviour

Confrontations between spectators and referees are becoming more frequent at minor basketball games in Halifax.

“This past weekend there were seven or eight fans removed from games, as well as some coaches as well for abuse,” says Matt Boyle, the assignor of officials for the Metro Basketball Association.

Boyle, who is also a referee, says while disagreements with officials are common and often harmless, things are escalating.

As a result, the Metro Basketball Association has decided to take action and ban all parents from all games this weekend.

In a letter to parents, league manager Chris Lerette says in part, “We have had a number of significant issues, including spectators berating officials, spectators screaming at players on opposing teams, custodians being mistreated for following the stated rules with respect to access to spaces.”

Some parents think it’s unfair.

“I think that they should be punishing the parents involved. If they were engaging in bad behavior, by all means,” says Lacey Legere.

Her son plays in the U-14 division. She’s disappointed to hear that she can’t watch him play his last games before the Christmas break.

“We’ve never had any instances so far this year anyway of our coaches, our players, or even the other teams that we encountered in our league that have had any issues, so I’m not sure why we would be punished,” Legere says.

Boyle says there is a policy to kick out belligerent parents but it hasn’t been working.

“A lot of our new officials are teenagers and in the mid 20s and we’ve seen a reduction every year. We get about 30 refs and only 15 per cent stay and the year after that only eight per cent stay.

Boyle says he needs about 50 more referees to handle the volume of games being played in Halifax.

He says unruly behaviour is not confined to courts in the city; it’s a problem across the province and across the country.

Other than during COVID, this is the first time all parents have been banned from watching their kids’ games.

The league says this ban is for this weekend only. They says spectators will be allowed back in the gym in the new year.

For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.