Recently, there have been a flood of questions coming in about laws regarding harassment of sports officials. Since I have children of my own who play youth sports, I have seen some of our more “spirited” community members in action. But when does disagreeing with an official's call cross the line, criminally?

Alabama has a law entitled “harassing, menacing or assaulting a sports official” (§13A-11-144). This law explains when a spectator's comments or actions toward a sports official become criminal. Under the law, a spectator commits the crime of “harassment of a sports official” if he or she strikes, shoves, kicks, or touches an official with the intent to harass, annoy, or alarm the official, or if the spectator directs abusive or obscene language or makes an obscene gesture towards the official. Harassment of a sports official is a Class B misdemeanor.

A spectator commits the crime of “menacing a sports official” if he or she intentionally places or attempts to place the official in fear of “imminent serious physical injury.” Generally speaking, this occurs if there are threats of violence severe enough to make the official reasonably believe that he or she is in danger. Menacing a sports official is a Class A misdemeanor.

A spectator commits the crime of “assault of a sports official in the third degree” if he or she causes physical injury to an official either intentionally or recklessly. It is important to note that the sports official must have suffered some physical injury for this charge to apply. Assault of a sports official in the third degree is a Class C felony.
A spectator commits the crime of “assault of a sports official in the second degree” if he or she intentionally causes serious physical injury to an official, or causes physical injury of any kind by using a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument. An example of this would be if a spectator hit the official over the head with a baseball bat. Assault of a sports official in the second degree is a Class B felony.

Finally, a spectator commits the crime of “assault of a sports official in the first degree” if he or she intentionally causes serious physical injury to an official by using a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument. This could apply where a spectator hits an official over the head with a baseball bat hard enough to crack his skull. Assault of a sports official in the first degree is a Class A felony.

In answer to the initial question, yelling at a referee is not a crime unless you use obscene or abusive language or gestures. Additionally, felony prosecution seems to be applicable only where the official has suffered some sort of physical injury. Just to be safe, if you have to comment about what you feel is a bad call, I recommend sticking to generic, non-threatening comments about the officials eyesight and/or need of glasses.