PAKURANGA HOCKEY DAD BRINGS MEGAPHONE TO UNDER-12 GAME, USES IT
Umpire abused via 15-watt speaker for a call she made forty seconds earlier.
A Pakuranga father brought a battery-powered megaphone to his daughter's under-12 hockey game at Lloyd Elsmore Park on Saturday. He used it to inform the umpire she was, and this is verbatim, "fucking blind, Sharon".
Sharon is not the umpire's name. The umpire is a 19-year-old uni student called Priya, covering the shift for $28 and a Powerade.
The dad, Grant Willoughby, 44, told The Daily Yarn he had "no regrets" and that the megaphone was "legitimate spectator equipment". Asked if other parents told him to stop, Grant said: "One tosser from the other team tried. I megaphoned him too."
By the third quarter Grant had moved off umpiring and onto broader themes. The opposition coach was "a shambles, Trevor". His own daughter was told, at volume, "Millie, for fuck's sake, the ball." The sausage sizzle was "a piss-take at six bucks". Millie was seen mouthing something back that her mother later called "fair enough, honestly".
Club officials have asked Grant to attend next week's game "without amplification". A Counties Manukau Hockey spokesperson said megaphones were "not explicitly banned" but were "being explicitly considered for banning, thanks to Grant".
Grant has since listed the megaphone on Marketplace for $40, "barely used". Witnesses dispute this.
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Reader Letters
★ Trev_Hornby
Grant's a bloody legend!
★ Margaret_F
Back in my day, we didn't need megaphones to get our point across, we just yelled. Kids have it too easy now, with their soft approach to everything. This wouldn't have happened when Gerald was coaching the local touch team. We had standards then!
★ BarryBishopdale
Oh please, a megaphone hardly compares to the noise of a thousand bloody cyclists ruining our Sundays. At least Grant made his own noise.
JoannePetone
Honestly, a megaphone at an under-12 game? It's just not on. Spare a thought for the poor students like Priya trying to earn a bit on the side. It's getting disgusting how parents behave these days at sports events.
★ Trev_Hornby
That's not what parents should focus on. It's about support, not showing off or putting down an umpire. Speaks volumes about the bloke!
ropeable_dave
Grant's a dick!
★ BarryBishopdale
Wouldn't have happened in '94. Got to blame the council for letting anyone bring those noise machines to public parks.
Sandra McKenzie
Grant is the type to blame the council for anything. It's not a council issue! It's personal responsibility, isn't it? Good on Priya for handling that megaphone madness.
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