18-Year-Old Soccer Ref Says He 'Humiliated' an Angry Dad Who Started Swearing After His Son's Team Lost

A young soccer referee is wondering if he went too far after snapping back at an angry parent.

In a post on Reddit's "Am I the A------?" forum, the 18 year old said he's been a referee since 2020 on top of having played soccer for 12 years.

However, he recently found himself in an awkward situation during a game for boys under the age of 10. The league has "a special set of rules," he explained, which included a "build-out line" to indicate where players could stand to have their goals count.

"As you are behind the line, it does not matter where the players on the opposing team are," the referee wrote. "You can be past the defenders but not pass the build-out line, and score. In an older age group, offside would apply and this would not be allowed."

Although this is "clearly written in the rules," he said that one of the dads didn't get the memo.

"Every time, some dad from the team that was losing kept screaming that I had no idea what I was doing and that every one of the goals was offside," he continued.

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The angry parent continued to shout and his son's team eventually lost 6-0.

But after he saw the dad "swearing to a bunch of the parents on his side" and calling him "f------ terrible," the teen felt like he had to say something — and ended up "humiliating" the parent.

"I walked over to him after I blew my whistle and said, 'Every one of those goals was legal because of the buildout line rules," the teen wrote, adding that he told the man he "should consider learning the rules of the sport before you sign up your own child and swear in front of a bunch of kids.' "

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Afterwards, he said the dad looked "like he was about the explode" and some of the other parents also looked upset. The parent then started "clapping sarcastically and said 'Way to keep it professional, sir.' "

The referee later told his parents about the situation, and although his mother found it funny, his father said he "shouldn’t bother associating with people like that and it makes me stoop to their level."

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Reddit users sided with the referee in the comments section and said the angry dad was the one who was disrespectful.

"If anything, you were far too nice," wrote one commenter. "A lot of leagues will quickly kick out parents who are being disrespectful to the refs, especially if they're swearing at a kids game."

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"You literally did keep it professional, you didn't swear and weren't rude, you just pointed out his own rude behavior," read a second reply. "The sarcastic clap was because he knew he was caught out not knowing the damn rules and was mad about it, and that was his weak reply."

Meanwhile, another commenter suggested that the teen raise the problem up the flagpole. "Definitely tell your supervisor which team the parent belonged to and ask that they have the coach speak to him before the next game," they wrote.

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