By Cadie Carroll
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJIAA) has teamed with the state’s Attorney General to put an end to trash talking in high school sporting events.
The recently adopted sportsmanship standards will ban taunting, trash-talking, and teasing at any high school sporting event, where officials are present.
Specifically, the directive bans any form of harassment, including remarks about race, gender, disability, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. Offenders will be subject to immediate ejection as well as potential penalties for his or her team. They will also be required to sit out for their next two regularly scheduled events, or in the case of football, disqualified for the following game.
However, the punishment doesn’t stop there. If officials eject a player because of unsportsmanlike language, the officials are required to report the foul conduct to the NJSIAA, which will in turn notify the state’s Division on Civil Rights.
Steven Timko, executive director of the NJSIAA, said it is one of the organization’s goals to eliminate all forms of harassment from athletic events, whether the offending party is a player, coach, or a fan.
“High school sports enhances and supports education,” Timko said. “Obscene gestures, profanity or unduly provocative language or action toward officials, opponents, or spectators won’t be tolerated in the classroom or the field of play.”
New Jersey Attorney General John Hoffman agreed, noting that high school sports were about “building character and instilling life-lessons,” and that his office was ready to work with all involved to enforce the new rules.
“Sometimes, we lose sight of those lessons on the field and in the stands.” Hoffman said. “I thank the coalition for bringing the issue to our attention, and the NJSIAA for taking steps to address an important concern.”
So just what specifically will officials be looking—or listening—for? The following statement will be read by officials to coaches, team captains and, in some instances, all team members before the start of the game:
“There will be no tolerance for negative statements or actions between opposing players and coaches. This includes taunting, baiting, berating opponents, trash-talking or actions which ridicule or cause embarrassment to them. Any verbal, written or physical conduct related to race, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or religion shall NOT be tolerated, could subject the violator to ejection, and may result in penalties being assessed against your team. If such comments are heard a penalty will be assessed immediately. We have been instructed not to issue warnings. It is your responsibility (Coaches and Captains) to remind your team of this policy.”
A similar announcement is to be made to spectators at athletic events (where announcement systems are available) to help combat negative language stemming from unruly fans.
