TAWA HOCKEY DAD BRINGS MEGAPHONE TO UNDER-11 GAME, REFUSES TO PUT IT DOWN EVEN AFTER YELLOW CARD
He's from Auckland, he's got batteries, and he's not going anywhere.
An Auckland hockey dad visiting his sister in Tawa turned up to his nephew's under-11 game on Saturday with a full-size megaphone. He used it, at volume, for the entire 50 minutes.
The dad, Grant Fenwick-Booth, told The Daily Yarn he'd driven down for the weekend. He wasn't going to sit through a game in silence "like some kind of public servant". He set up on the halfway line at the Tawa turf and tested the siren function twice. In the third minute he opened his account with "REFEREE YOU ARE A COWARD."
The referee was a Year 10 girl from a local college. She'd taken the whistle for forty bucks and a sausage roll. "He kept calling me 'the man in the middle'," she said. "I'm fifteen. I'm a girl. He knew."
Other Tawa parents were initially too Wellington about it to say anything. Eventually one mum cracked. "Mate, put the fucking thing down," she said. Fenwick-Booth megaphoned back: "THIS IS DEMOCRACY, JANINE." Her name is not Janine.
Fenwick-Booth was eventually yellow-carded by the umpire and asked to leave the sideline. Hockey Wellington confirmed it was a first for a spectator. He relocated approximately four metres, behind the fence, and carried on. "Still on public land," he shouted. "Still got batteries."
His nephew's team lost 3–1. Asked by his mother if he wanted Uncle Grant to come to next week's game, the nephew did not answer and went to sit in the car.
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Reader Letters
MumOf3_PortNicholson
Bloody disgraceful behaviour.
Garry (Halswell)
Soft refereeing! This kind of nonsense wouldn't have flown back in my day. We respected the officials and the game. Today's parents are something else entirely, thinking it's okay to bring a megaphone to a kids' game and ruin it for everyone. It's absolutely shameful and disgusting. Someone needs to tell them to get a grip and maybe try supporting their child instead of scaring them into oblivion with their antics.
hockey_fanatic
Lol, Janine.
Trev_Hornby
Honestly, Grant Fenwick-Booth seems like a legend! He's only doing what someone else was too afraid to do. These games need more passion, not less. Bet that kid's team will remember this game. Maybe they'll play better for the next one!
janine_lmt
Mate, think of the kids! It's not about passion, it's about scaring them off the field. That faux referee doesn't deserve to be shouted at with a megaphone, especially by an adult that should know better.
Wellington_Watchdog
Honestly, I think it's hilarious. Can't believe they let him continue after the yellow card!
tired_in_riccarton
It sounds like this Grant bloke was more focused on his megaphone than the actual game. That's the real shame in all this. Hope the kid wasn't too humiliated by his uncle's antics.
Trev_Hornby
@janine_lmt Kids need to toughen up. Life's not all rainbows and lollipops. Real world isn't soft.
Sandra_WGTN
Megaphone at a kids' game? Who brings that to a game in the first place? Should stick to the rules and respect the young ref. Disgusting behaviour.
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