RI weighs resolving youth sports spats at council

March 5, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

By RAY HENRY

Associated Press Writer

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Soccer dads and hockey moms beware: Lose your cool at your kids’ games and you might have to pay.

A bill pending in Rhode Island would create a seven-member council to settle disputes in youth recreational leagues, with the power to fine parents or others it thinks are in the wrong. Backers say it would create a more systematic way for resolving sports fights that sometime result in children or parents arbitrarily being removed from organized leagues.

While some other state and town governments have tried to enforce good sportsmanship, national experts say no state has ever considered intervening so deeply in sideline squabbles. The bill gets its first Statehouse hearing Tuesday.

Alan Goldberger, an attorney who consults with the National Association of Sports Officials, thinks the bill is unconstitutional, not to mention impractical.

“I’m kind of stunned,” he said. “I just have never seen anything like it.”

Jeff Southworth, 48, said more regulation is needed to hold league officials accountable. He called Pawtucket police more than three years ago after he said his daughter’s soccer coach showed up angry and unwelcome at his family’s home. The two clashed over league matters, he said, including whether Southworth could videotape soccer games.

Southworth’s daughter quit the team and needed counseling, he said. The family tried, but was unable to get, local or state soccer officials or the city government to intervene.

“Nothing like that should ever happen to any kid,” Southworth said. “I just think there are a lot of leagues out there, and it’s not just soccer, that need to be brought under control.”

The new legislation would provide far more scrutiny. It would require Gov. Don Carcieri to nominate seven volunteers to a panel called the Rhode Island Youth Sports Oversight Council. The nominees would be subject to Senate approval, just like judges or high-ranking state officials.

Aggrieved coaches, parents or players could file complaints with the council.

Sen. John Tassoni Jr., a Democrat who works for a politically influential labor union and the bill’s sponsor, said he may still revise the bill to give the council the power to compel witnesses to testify. Identical legislation has been filed by Democratic Rep. Timothy Williamson, the senior deputy majority leader in the House.

Tassoni wrote the legislation after hearing from parents, including the mother of a young girl cut from a football cheerleading squad because her mother argued with a coach.

“The board of directors said, ’You’re out. Take your kid and leave,”’ Tassoni said. “Who loses? The child loses because they can’t play sports with their friends.”

Some say the legislation is unnecessary. Ken Conte, president of North Providence East Little League, said that both his board of directors and Little League International in Williamsport, Pa., already have procedures for resolving disputes.

“I can’t imagine anyone being for it,” Conte said. “I just don’t think they want anyone at that level getting involved in our sports.”

While the bill would give the new council power to enact rules, it does not explain what standards would be used to decide whether someone should be fined or how much the fines would be.

The legislation also doesn’t explain the threshold for filing a complaint. Tassoni said he intends that the council will mainly consider complaints from children or families who feel they have been treated unfairly by leagues, rather than mundane disputes, such as a referee’s call.

“I’ve officiated for 32 years,” said Goldberger, the attorney. “There’s hardly a time at some level when someone doesn’t have a complaint about something.”

Government intervention in youth sports is not unprecedented, but Rhode Island’s would go further than other laws.

New Jersey allows local teams and schools to adopt and enforce codes of conduct for youth sports leagues. More commonly, governments use their position as landlord to regulate sports teams.

Fairfax County, Va., requires that leagues playing in public parks adopt a clear code of conduct with progressive discipline. If a league cannot resolve a dispute itself, county officials hear appeals about whether the disciplinary policy was properly enforced.

In extreme cases, Fairfax County can issue no-trespass orders banning troublesome adults, players or volunteers from its fields.

“We don’t get into whether he said this, or he said that,” said Chris Leonard, deputy director of the Fairfax County Department of Community and Recreation Services. “We get into, ’Did you have what we told you to have?”’