And in this installment of "Parents Behaving Badly," the 'rents of an entire Bethesda soccer team have been told to stay far away while watching their daughters play.
"It's embarrassing," a parent told The Washington Post. "This is seventh-grade soccer."
It all started when an assistant referee, who is also a parent, called an offside violation on a Bethesda player, according to the minutes of the disciplinary hearing. After the game, a Bethesda parent approached the ref and accused him of making the wrong call. Then the parent "started to raise his voice," according to the report.
More sniping occurred, and "the tone and behavior of the parents was aggressive." Then another Bethesda parent allegedly yelled at the ref's daughter, "Your father should be fired!" the Post reported.
Yes, out-of-control parents cheering for their kids at sports games have become par for the course. There are countless articles on them, and even a website dedicated to the more criminal ones.
So the Washington Area Girls Soccer League put its foot down and told the team's parents not to come within a 100 yards of the sidelines for the first two games of the season.
"This isn't the World Cup," league president Kathie Diapoulis told the Post. "... And for the parents to be shrieking on the sidelines and belittling people goes against everything we're trying to do ... It's not acceptable behavior."
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The Bethesda team parents, meanwhile, have invested in binoculars.
"We accepted our punishment, and we're abiding by it," Potomac lawyer Philip Page told the Post. "One of the functions of sports is to teach sportsmanship. When we as parents violate that, the girls need to see there are consequences to those actions."
We couldn't have said it better ourselves. Good game, everyone.
