One moment stands out in Raymond Kaleo Benz’s 40-year career as a soccer referee: getting charged from behind during a 2003 high school quarterfinal match between Pearl City and Baldwin.
“Because of one call, they didn’t like it, and that’s where I got pushed from behind out of nowhere,” Benz said of the Baldwin player who shoved him.
While he said the good outweighs the bad in refereeing games, Benz won’t deny there are issues that go beyond verbal abuse.
Referees are already in short supply in Hawaiʻi, leading to postponed and canceled games. And many worry that the recent attack on a Moanalua official will steer people away from donning the zebra stripes.
Last month, videos surfaced of two parents heckling a referee at a Moanalua High School boys basketball game that led to a school official being knocked out. The incident resulted in the state Department of Education permanently banning the parents from all public school properties.
The attacks illustrate what many see as a growing problem of violence against sports officials. Many worry that it’s contributing to the decline of referees.
It’s hard to say how often officials are attacked. High school sports associations don’t keep track, and state laws targeting attackers have hardly been used.
A 2020 law allows the courts to issue lifetime bans to spectators who harm sports officials, but no one has been charged under that law yet. And there’s only been one case brought under a 2023 law elevating attacks against sports officials to second-degree assault.
That incident last year involved a man allegedly attacking a football coach during a scrimmage between Saint Louis and Farrington.
Referees are already overburdened
Matt Sumstine, a football officials coordinator at the Hawaiʻi High School Athletics Association, is already dealing with referee retention issues. Now he’s worried that the recent incident at Moanalua will lead to a further decline in refs.
“Will we lose officials immediately as a result of that? Yes,” Sumstine said. “It’s not necessarily the official's decision. It might be their kids, or it might be their spouse who says ‘Hey dad or mom, I just saw this on TV. I don’t want that to be you.’”
Sumstine said the problem has magnified in the last 30 years due to the advent of high-definition video that has fans more critical of a sports game. Before, it was normal for referees to get boos from spectators. Now, instant replay has made armchair refs of average spectators.
“I believe that because of the video availability and the magnification of some of the mistakes that have been made, people feel that it's now OK to amplify their criticisms,” he said. “When they amplify their criticisms, it almost turns into a mob mentality.”
It’s challenging to maintain a roster of referees; he’s already short about 40 officials in flag and tackle football.
“We’re overburdening our current staff,” Sumstine said. “They're working a lot as a result of that, their bodies are under a little bit more stress, and they're more prone to injury if you have to work every night versus every other night.”
Bryce Kaneshiro, executive director of the Oʻahu Interscholastic Association, said the incident involving Moanalua Associate Athletic Director Natalie Iwamoto was unfortunate.
He said sports officials follow protocols to de-escalate altercations. When parents begin name-calling or become rowdy, referees either talk to the coaches or school administrators to have them calm down their fan base.
Sometimes it works. Other times sports officials take it a step further.
“At certain times, there are certain parents who don't believe they're in the wrong, and they'll continue their behavior,” he said. “That's when either the game will stop, and then we would have to escort that parent out, and if they don't want to leave, the worst case scenario is that we would end the game.”
In other cases, the athletics director will escort the referees from the game to their vehicles. Kaneshiro said the OIA is "constantly evaluating” their training methods.
Soccer referee Raymond Kaleo Benz said there should be more training.
Benz was attacked before. He was pleased to see the DOE permanently ban Iwamoto’s attackers from all public school campuses.
“That’s a good start,” he said.
Reining in hecklers
Sumstine said he’s had people jump on the hood of his car after games and had players circle around the sports officials when the power went out during a football game in Kahuku to protect them from angry fans.
Parents at a recent high school soccer game say heckling against officials has gotten worse. Some have seen parents physically fight amongst each other in the stands.
The recent incidents in high school sports have prompted lawmakers to look into increasing penalties for violence against education and sports officials.
Rep. Andrew Takuya Garrett, who also works as an umpire for high school baseball and softball, has experienced his fair share of heckling from parents.
“This is something that has been trending in this direction,” he said. “Every game, there’s going to be people who get passionate about sports. It’s understandable, but there’s no excuse for this to cross over into threats of actual violence.”
Garrett said he’s considering a bill that would enhance protection for education and sports officials.
“It's important that we do have strong laws to send a message that we're going to have zero tolerance for this kind of behavior,” he said.
Bad parents
Parents behaving poorly at high school games is a byproduct of high-performance culture, according to Richard Weissbourd, a senior lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education.
He said some parents live vicariously through their kids or base their worth on how they perform in sports.
Bad parental behavior happens regardless of economic status. Some parents act out in high school games because they want their kids to have a full-ride scholarship to a prestigious college, or they have a sense of entitlement, he said.
That behavior can give teenagers anxiety. Those parents also make bad role models not only for their own children, but for other teens as well, Weissbourd said.
“You want to model for them that you're not just focused on your own kid,” he said. “You're focused on other people's kids too, and the team and how well the team does.”
Weissbourd said that sports programs should have contracts with parents that outline the expectations during a game.
While it’s not a contract, the state Department of Education has rolled out a code of conduct in 2024 for visitors on public school properties. It outlines expectations for visitors and consequences for violations.
Taking heat
On a recent Thursday, Punahou played Saint Louis in a boys soccer game, besting the Crusaders 10-2. Hawaiʻi’s referee shortage was on full display: just two referees were available to cover the pitch instead of the usual three.
Referee Benz said that Hawaiʻi lags behind other states in sports official pay. He said referees can make about $70 per game in the islands, while other states pay over $100 per game.
“I’m OK with the pay right now,” he said. “The money is coming slowly.”
Benz said that it’s important for the referees to have a working relationship not only with the coaches and players but also with the parents, and to make sure that they understand why he makes certain calls.
Benz, who was refereeing the game, gave a yellow card to a Punahou player for a dangerous slide tackle. There were groans in the crowd, but even Punahou fans agreed it was a foul.
Generally, Benz said, that’s when players get “pissed off.” But that night was a tamer affair between the private schools because it wasn’t a high-stakes game.
It was a tough call to make, but Benz said split-second decisions are part of the job.
“When I wanted to become a referee, I knew that I would take the heat from the players, from the coaches and from the parents, no matter right or wrong,” he said after the match.
After the final whistle, Benz was off to another match. Just like an athlete, he wanted to be prepared for the players, and the parents, he’d see later in the season.
“I want to watch the game in plainclothes, so I can do my homework,” he said. “Like a scout, who is the best player, or who is the dirty player. That's how I do my job, so I prepare myself for the game, and I don't have any drama during the game.”
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