AoD went to a soccer match and a hockey game broke out

This is a picture of my beloved Army of Dad reffing a girls' soccer game back in August. Fortunately, the girls are pretty easy to keep in check. However, the same can't be said for what happened to him Sunday night. Bless his heart. He called me about a hour before I expected to hear from him. I always fret when I get unexpected calls from him because they are usually A) to tell me he is injured in some fashion or B) he has lost his job. *shrug* Of course, I'm a bit on the paranoid side after getting a few of these kinds of calls from him over the years at unexpected times. So, he called last night early and proceeded to tell me how these men in this soccer game were playing a little rough, but he was keeping it under control as the center referee. Then, some guy jumps for a ball and knees the keeper in the face. The keeper is covered in blood and comes up to pound the dude who hit him. Some spectator comes rushing in from the sidelines, players are taking off their shirts and a baseball-style bench-clearing brawl ensued. Cops were nearby and came over to help get the situation under control.

Scary stuff. Although, I don't think anything has freaked me out as much as when some WT *think about the acronym* woman threatened to burn our house down because she was mad at AoD when he reffed her kid's soccer game a few years back. That was really scary. Our town isn't tiny, but it is still pretty much a small town, so it wouldn't be that hard for her to find us.

Another ref incident, not with AoD reffing, but one in which I tried to protect the center ref during a game I was coaching wound up with AoD being threatened. We had a parent (who happens to be a cop) threaten AoD because I told the parent to stop yelling at a referee (who was a middle school age kid). He told me I couldn't tell him what to do and I explained that, as the coach, I was considered responsible for the behavior of the players AND the parents. So, the parent decided to call AoD and threaten him for my behavior and because AoD was backing me up on what I told him. *shaking my head*

People get really scary over something as simple as a game. I know I hate to lose and can get pretty upset about things, but I just can't imagine getting violent toward another person. The only thing I can think of that would do that to me would be if someone was hurting my child. Then, I think I have it in me