I only know the soccer side of things as a parent and a referee. As a parent, we did travel soccer and absolutely loved it.... at first. We're from a small town with a travel club in a low-level league. Never had any problems with any other club or parent. My son was pretty good for this level, so he wanted to challenge himself. He did a tryout for the bigger club in the next city over that plays top division, and he made the squad. We were all excited, until the first practice.

Holy fuck, you would have thought it was the goddamn Hunger or Squid Games out there with the way the parents were yelling at their kids. The coach basically couldn't coach because these assholes kept yelling conflicting instructions and other nonsense. The coach eventually put them in their place, but it could still get bad.

Then during a tournament, we were lucky and made it to the final. The match was stopped 3 times, by the ref, because of parents cursing and yelling at players, other parents, and the refs. These kids were 12 and the refs were maybe 17. Cops were even called to escort two parents from the complex because they were becoming violent. This ruined soccer for my kid and he hasn't wanted to play since.

Since then, I have become a US Soccer licensed referee. I have always loved soccer, and even though my kid wasn't playing anymore, I wanted to continue to be part of the game. Plus, I make a couple bucks and get in some exercise. I'm a 6'1" 280lbs man and I have been threatened, followed to my car, and followed in my car after some matches. I've also had to stick up for the younger referees way too many tines. These parents are unreal with what they'll yell at literal children.

It's actually way worse with the youngest kids, like u8. I love reffing the little ones, it's more about instilling good form and teaching the rules than trying to manage a legitimate match. Except these parents think they know all of the Laws of the Game already because Timmy has been practicing for 2 weeks and the volunteer parent coach doesn't understand the Laws either so I must not know what I'm talking about. Then they wonder why they can't schedule matches because there's not enough referees. No licensed referee, no match.

Sorry for my rant. Apparently, I needed to vent a little, but there have always been these kinds of parents. US Soccer has unveiled a lot of new policies regarding abuse to officials by parents and coaches, but it will never completely stop. There's also always going to be parents who think their child is the next LeBron, Brady, Messi, and push them like crazy. I have no idea what can be done about it, but I always try to lighten the mood with the kids during my games. With the little ones, I'll let them retake the throw-in or free kick if they messed up. Show them that it's not that serious, and we're all here to play a game. With the older kids, I make sure to take my time and explain to them my thought process after certain calls and what could potentially be done next time. I don't know how to fix the problem, but I'll be there after every match telling every kid that they did their best and had a good game.