Lady Bulldogs @ Lady Skippers--Referees: 1 Fans: 0

[twostripedsocks]

I again find myself appalled at what I have witnessed at a Fontainebleau High School soccer match. It seems that every time that I have the pleasure of crossing paths with FHS spectators, I am consistently disappointed that no one has done anything to address their poor sportsmanship--not their coaches, athletic director, principal, nor the school board.

While I could go on and on about how disrespectful the FHS spectators consistently behave toward referees, I don't have the time. I'll just briefly talk about the one particular call that got them really worked up tonight--an Offside decision that denied them the opportunity to tie the game. I can completely understand how someone who is unfamiliar with Offside could mistake the decision for a bad call, but long story short, the girl in question became involved in active play by attempting to kick the ball while standing in the goalkeeper's line of vision. It doesn't matter that she missed. Period. Good call all day. I wish to simply offer that as fans, you usually aren't familiar with the totality of the Laws and Rules that accompany your child's sport. This includes the dads who identify themselves as "referees" because they took the class once but never worked any competitive games or received any further training. Leave the officials alone. They got this one right.

As an unbiased spectator who is not affiliated with either team, I can say that both Fontainebleau and Mandeville played well tonight, and the officials made clutch calls when they needed to. As far as the sportsmanship issue goes, I hope that ALL Louisiana schools start to crack down on disrespectful (and frankly, ignorant) spectators and begin to protect officials more. To the students who think that yelling at a referee is funny, if only you knew how ignorant and disrespectful you sound. If I had to make an assumption about all FHS students based on the behavior of the few who attended this game, I would think that they were all obnoxious punks. And to the parents who try to one-up each other's referee insults, y'all are teaching that nonsense to your children, and they're not exactly turning out to be little angels. Set good examples, and put yourself in someone else's shoes before you scream at them.

Be nice.

[Loveblacklivered]

As for being a former student of FHS, I know of the competitive atmosphere created within the athletic comminity. And it is just that, a competitive spirit. I also had the opportunity to attend the game at Mandeville and having played soccer all the way up onto the Division I college level, I would say the ending offsides call would be a questionable call. The girl that shot the ball had a clear intention of this to be a shot, the girl that was called for the offsides, did not act as to play the ball, she clearly was following up as if the shot was to miss but did not.

As for the fans, making a comment as to an assumption of all FHS student being "obnoxious punks" would be an ignorant statement on your part because of the pure fact that you have never been a part of the community that FHS has built. These students care very much about their athletes and show much appreciation that you don't see at many different schools. If I recall correctly, winning a nola.com award for the best student section this year that I, former almumni, was quite proud to see the spirit that I was once part of, be acknowledged. So before the assumptions towards young teenagers having somewhat senseless fun and being supportive of their school, here is a true inside view of one of the, in my opinion, best fan bases in the state.

Thank you.

[rlb2024]

Full disclosure -- I am a Fontainebleau soccer parent.  If that means you wish to ignore everything that follows, fine.  That's your prerogative.

I was at the Fontainebleau-Mandeville game last Friday night when the play in question occurred.  In fact, at that moment I was standing with a coach from another school who was a GK when he played.  Was the play called correctly?  Yes -- but I will say it is an offside call that you do not see very often.  I was a referee for a few years (and yes, I took additional training) and had not experienced a situation like that.  Once the coach I was standing with explained why the call was correct I understood better.  If I remember correctly, the AR who made the call is one of the top young referees in the state.  I trust his judgment implicitly and would love to have him officiate any game I am at.

This is an intense rivalry game between neighbor schools, district opponents, and two of the top girls' programs in the state.  It is always hard-fought and close, and emotions spill over.  Things are said that probably shouldn't be said, both by the players and by fans of all ages.  But I assure you that what is said at any FHS game is no different than what I have heard at many other games involving other schools.  I attend non-FHS games a few times a year as a neutral observer, and I have heard and seen MUCH worse behavior by students and parents at several other schools over the years -- directed at players, officials, and opposing fans.  I have also attended club soccer events from Orlando to Oklahoma City involving teams from all over the United States, and what you will hear here is tame by comparison.

And soccer is not an exception here.  Football, basketball, baseball, etc., have their crazy fans who can cross the line when it comes to officials as well.  Watching just about any game on TV will attest to that.

I am not trying to defend nor justify any specific thing that may have been said at the game.  Can we all do better?  Sure -- myself included.  But that can be said for students and fans at all schools.  And for someone to come on here and slam one particular set of fans (and by implication all students and fans of the school) really gets my dander up.  If you are going to generalize about an entire set of people based upon the actions of a few, you're going to miss out on knowing a lot of wonderful, supportive people -- and it will be your loss.

The fact that Fontainebleau had ANY fans willing to come out and support the girls and boys teams in 38-degree, windy weather on the road, especially when there was a home basketball game (read: indoors) between the same two schools at the same time, is a testament to the spirit of the fans.  I for one appreciate their being there.

Would I love to have 2,000 extremely knowledgeable fans in attendance at every game who know all the subtle nuances of the game, and who are 100 percent respectful all the time?  Of course I would.  So would everyone else on this board affiliated with any high school program.  But we are not there yet, either as a state or a country.

I notice that the original post here was written less than two hours after the game ended, when emotions are still running high.  Most of the coaches I have been around enforce a "24-hour" rule, whereby you wait 24 hours before addressing what went on in the game to let things cool down and have saner heads prevail.  I hope the original poster would not have been quite so vitriolic had he waited until the next morning to post this.