LODI, Calif. — As thousands of fans flock to high school football stadiums Friday night, officials with the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section are implementing new measures to make sure that their passionate cheers don't turn into confrontations or violence.
"We saw or processed roughly 615 misconducts all last year," said CIF Sac-Joaquin Assistant Commissioner Jeff Lorenson. "That was the dread of the job, honestly."
With nearly 615 instances of coaches, athletes and spectators fighting or behaving badly at nearly 200 high school sports events across Northern California last year, making sure fans keep the peace in 2024 was crucial.
That's why Lorenson's team printed around 20,000 yellow cards and 10,000 red cards over the summer, ready for the Friday night lights. The yellow cards are meant to warn spectators on both the home and away sides that their behavior could result in an ejection and three-game suspension. An ejection and suspension would warrant a red card.
"Spectators really getting on referees, calling out opposing team players by name or number... obviously, anything profane... those are going to be straight red cards," said Lorenson. "But your general 'yeah, that's borderline, let's get back on track': That's just going to be a simple yellow card."
While each school in the Sac-Joaquin section was given yellow and red cards, it's up to school administrators whether to use them. Officials at Lodi Unified School District say that once they have all their cards, they plan to put the new tools to use.
"Anything that has to do with athletics is exciting for, again, the community and all the different schools," said Erin Aitkan, director of Student Services at Lodi Unified School District. "It's about those athletes out there competing and putting forth their best effort, representing their school, representing their community. In order for them to do that, they need a positive environment and that starts with the fans."
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