DEVONPORT NETBALL MUM EJECTED FOR "REFEREEING THE REFEREE" AT UNDER-12 GAME
Umpire is 15. Mum is 47. Saturday at Ngataringa Park did not go well for either.
A Devonport mother has been removed from the sideline of an under-12 netball match at Ngataringa Park on Saturday after spending the entire first quarter shouting corrections at a 15-year-old umpire she described, loudly and repeatedly, as "fucking blind".
The mother, Annabel Cresswell-Jones, was watching her daughter's Belmont Intermediate B team play a Takapuna side when she took exception to a contact call in the circle. Witnesses say she began with "that's not contact, love" and escalated within four minutes to "are you actually fucking serious", at which point a club official walked over with a clipboard and a face.
"She was carrying on like a pork chop," said another parent, Hine Walters, who'd brought a thermos and now wishes she'd brought earplugs. "Telling the umpire where to stand. Telling the umpire what the rule was. The umpire is in Year 11. The umpire cried in the car park afterwards. I saw it."
My late husband Gerald umpired junior cricket for eleven years in Marshlands and was never once hollered at by a woman in activewear that cost more than his car. Standards on the Shore are what one expects when houses go for $2.3 million and the mothers have nothing left to win at.
A Netball North Harbour spokesperson confirmed Mrs Cresswell-Jones had been asked to leave and would face a "please explain" letter, adding that umpire abuse at junior level was "becoming a weekly thing, honestly". The umpire, contacted via her mother, said she was "fine" but had decided to take next Saturday off to "do literally anything else".
Mrs Cresswell-Jones was last seen on the Lake Road side of the park, on the phone, telling someone the call had been "a fucking disgrace". Her daughter's team lost by 14. Her daughter has asked to switch to hockey.
The mother, Annabel Cresswell-Jones, was watching her daughter's Belmont Intermediate B team play a Takapuna side when she took exception to a contact call in the circle. Witnesses say she began with "that's not contact, love" and escalated within four minutes to "are you actually fucking serious", at which point a club official walked over with a clipboard and a face.
"She was carrying on like a pork chop," said another parent, Hine Walters, who'd brought a thermos and now wishes she'd brought earplugs. "Telling the umpire where to stand. Telling the umpire what the rule was. The umpire is in Year 11. The umpire cried in the car park afterwards. I saw it."
My late husband Gerald umpired junior cricket for eleven years in Marshlands and was never once hollered at by a woman in activewear that cost more than his car. Standards on the Shore are what one expects when houses go for $2.3 million and the mothers have nothing left to win at.
A Netball North Harbour spokesperson confirmed Mrs Cresswell-Jones had been asked to leave and would face a "please explain" letter, adding that umpire abuse at junior level was "becoming a weekly thing, honestly". The umpire, contacted via her mother, said she was "fine" but had decided to take next Saturday off to "do literally anything else".
Mrs Cresswell-Jones was last seen on the Lake Road side of the park, on the phone, telling someone the call had been "a fucking disgrace". Her daughter's team lost by 14. Her daughter has asked to switch to hockey.