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 County Football Board hears concerns over Championship game dispute web posted November 25, 2008 EDGEFIELD – The Edgefield County Recreation Football Board met Monday night to hear parents and coach’s concerns at the “end of season meeting”. Topics on “Football Rules” were pushed back along with other items to address issues surround the officials for the games, and one official in particular, and most recently at the county championship game last week. Recreation Director Nick Wates said the he knows there is a problem, “I have seen bad sportsmanship, well, not sportsmanship, some referees have bad attitudes and when coaches try to ask them stuff they smart-off at them.” In spite of that Mr. Wates said he was not going to question an official on a call or non-call during a game. “Do they make some bad calls?” Wates asked rhetorically, “sure they do. NFL refs make bad calls sometimes too.” Board President Mike Garrett said the board would be following up with a meeting with Wayne Merchant, a referee who organizes referees for the games, to get their side of the ongoing dispute between coaches and parents over the officiating at the games. “Is he the head referee?” one parent asked. Mr. Garrett said he was not but he was their “liaison” for referees. That did not sit well with many of those attending, as he is one referee they were concerned about in particular. “If he’s not the head ref I don’t see the need in having him here,” one parent said. Complaints of non-calls for facemask’s, clipping, and even cussing by 8 to 11 year old players were reportedly ignored when brought to the attention of the referees. “They (the referees) just tell us to get off the field,” one coach said. Some board members who also coach teams agreed that they too had repeated problems similar to what other coaches were complaining about. Board President Garrett said that there were only two referees calling a game and they cannot watch everything that is happening during a play, but they were supposed to call anything that affected the outcome of the play or player safety. “Dragging a kid down by a facemask,” one unidentified coach said, was a player safety issue and others in attendance agreed. Garrett pressed on that the meeting was to hear the issues raised by parents and coaches and they would meet with Mr. Merchant to address the matters with him at the January 12 meeting, 6:30 pm at the County Council Chambers. This drew the ire of some since Mr. Merchant was the referee who ejected a grandfather from the championship game for calling him “rabbit ears” from the stands that brought several Edgefield County Deputies to the Bettis Park facility due to the Merriwether bleachers “escalating”, according to a six page police report, saying the crowd “appeared as if they wanted to confront Merchant as well”. Merchant was “ushered away by the Recreation Director Nick Wates” and the crowd was asked to clear the field, the report states. Mr. Garrett insisted that all sides would be considered and the meeting at hand was just to hear one side of the situation and all matters would be discussed in another meeting. He also stated that the referees were certified by South Carolina High School Association of Referees and Mr. Merchant was certified and, since he was the liaison he would be their contact about the matter as he can referee anywhere in the state and offers to line up referees for the game. “Can he ref at North Augusta?” one asked. Recreation Director Nick Wates said no, Mr. Merchant was banned from North Augusta High School involving an issue there, but he was unclear as to what the issue surrounding his banishment was. The hour long meeting ended amicably and casual conversations between parents, coaches, and board members continued a short time afterwards. ©
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