Hey, petulant parent having a meltdown at the soccer field. Smile, you’re on camera

The idea of putting body cameras on youth soccer referees to deter abuse seems preposterous and over the top. Except that it’s not.

In most every sport, at most every level, from most every region of the country, the reported abuse of game officials — often just teenagers themselves — has generated growing alarm about adults out of control.

As the Star’s Kerry Gillespie reported recently, Ontario Soccer is launching pilot projects in June that will see some referees — primarily at the under-9 and under-11 age groups — wear cameras on their chests to deter and record abuse.

Referees may also call “referee timeouts” if they believe sideline emotions are boiling over.

“It’s sad we’re doing this, but this is where we’re coming to,” said Johnny Misley, chief executive of Ontario Soccer. “That’s less about the players, more about spectators, coaches, team officials.”

In other words, the adults on the sidelines.

“There’s a lot of just ridiculous abuse of referees in amateur sport in general that is appalling, absolutely appalling, and all we’re trying to do is our part at educating but more importantly trying to change a culture.”

That’s no small task when professional baseball managers go viral for blowing gaskets on umpires, when hockey coaches fire profanities at referees in slo-mo replays that make lip-readers unnecessary, and when Kyle Dubas’s serial meltdowns in the GM’s suite during the latest Maple Leafs playoff disaster are replayed over and over again.

For good or ill, adults — especially famous ones — set the example.

Sports leaders report that abuse of referees is a major contributor to many sports finding themselves with too few officials to oversee games. And without referees, there are no games.

Few who have spent much time around youth sports, especially but not exclusively at competitive levels, will deny that such abuse occurs.

Any who do will be educated by the story Gillespie told of 21-year-old Adrian Tanjala.

Tanjala started refereeing soccer at age 15, when he was taunted by a player-coach calling him “four-eyes.” In 2021, he was assaulted on the field while officiating an under-18 recreational game.

He decided to quit refereeing, but later decided to be part of the solution and is now head referee at the North Toronto Soccer Club.

He said “there’s a real problem with refereeing in Ontario, in Canada,” and he hoped Ontario Soccer’s body-camera and referee-timeout pilot projects will raise public awareness and accountability.

On the hierarchy of human motivators, emotion usually trumps reason. And competitive sports are inherently emotional affairs.

Over the last several decades, parents and other adults have also become more and more involved in youth sports. It is where huge amounts of their time and money are invested, even dreams of breaking into the pros. And where time, money and career aspirations go, emotion is sure to follow.

The fact any assaults will now be filmed and potentially used as evidence in criminal complaints or for follow-up discipline should serve as welcome deterrents.

Other sanctions might include banning abusive adults from playing fields, or even requiring young players to sit out for ejections incurred by parents — which would surely make for some painful discussions on the drive home.

Let’s hope the initiative — shocking as it may seem — protects referees, encourages self-restraint, places youth sport in its proper perspective, and restores parents to their role as supportive onlookers.