Some questions about the new NDHSAA rules for fans at sporting events
(KXNET) — The North Dakota High School Activities Association just announced new rules for fan conduct at sporting events.
The rules are primarily in response to an incident at a basketball game in early February.
The NDHSAA says the new rules will take effect immediately and will be enforced at association-sponsored sporting events.
But the new rules are guaranteed to raise “grey area” issues when it comes to definitions and consistent enforcement. Granted, any concerns or issues with the rules are conjecture at this point, as there are no games yet to be played under the new system. It will take several games to see if any patterns of problems develop with enforcement.
With that in mind, here are five questions that immediately spring to mind about the new rules as they are written:
- What is considered “vulgar, obscene or inappropriate” clothing? Some may be obvious. But what if I had a t-shirt with the slogan “Make America Great Again” or “Let’s Go, Brandon” or “Trump in 2024” or “Biden in 2024” or “Abortion Stops A Beating Heart” or “Abortion Stops A Beating Heart? , “Crush The Cardinals,” or “These NDHSAA Rules Suck!” If I get kicked out of the stands at a game for wearing a political slogan that the enforcer of the NDHSAA Fan Rules doesn’t like, that person will step on mine First Amendment Right Around? Which leads to the next question…
- Is the dress code in general a violation of the right to free speech? Can this rule be challenged in court as an attempt to overturn the constitutional guarantee of free speech?
- Do the new rules ban boos? Can I be kicked out during the game as a fan if I boo the opposing team or boo my team’s bad play or boo a questionable referee call? According to the rules, can this be interpreted as “disrespect” or “negative chanting”? How about hiss?
- Are these rules really necessary? Don’t schools already have codes of conduct or disciplinary procedures to deal with unruly or inappropriate fan behavior? Is the early February incident that contributed to the new rules part of an ongoing, widespread problem at high school sporting events? Are North Dakota high school sports fans regularly unruly and abusive? If the February incident is a rare situation, hasn’t it already been disciplinary handled by the schools and teams involved? Is the NDHSAA making a proverbial “mountain out of a molehill,” or is this a much-needed, long-overdue, system-wide response to keep the worst fans at bay at games?
- How fairly and consistently can the rules be enforced? If a fan is kicked out for booing at one game and another is not kicked out for booing at another game, this would raise issues of fairness and consistency in enforcement. If a fan is kicked out for wearing a Trump 2024 jersey because it’s deemed “inappropriate,” but in another instance, a fan isn’t kicked out for wearing a Biden 2024 jersey, that would result in the accusation of the raise political bias in rule enforcement. There is a chance that the goal of the new rules – to deter inappropriate fan behavior – will be lost in controversy over the fairness, consistency and bias in enforcing the rules.
Again, all of these questions are speculation as no games have been played by the rules yet. They may all become obsolete after the system has existed for a while. Some questions may already have an answer that just hasn’t been mentioned.
In any case, people will be watching closely how fans and enforcers behave over the course of upcoming high school sporting events.