Big headline these days. Referees are quitting across the board in many sports because of blankety blank crazy parents. The fights you can watch, compiled on YouTube into a bonafide hot mess, make you cringe, cry and call out "whoooooo raised you?!!!"
A recent NYT take is here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/sports/referee-parents-abuse-videos.html
And therein is part of our point.
"Cool" people raise "cool" kids, who, when they get a whiff of a chance, seem to like rugby, a lot!
It seems rugby, a sport full of passion AND camaraderie, fitness AND finesse, plays AND freeform and a history rooted mostly OVERSEAS, has the magic combination.
Back in the day, we're talking 70s and 80s here. players did not ever complain to the referee [in person- big grin]. Now, we are all a bit brasher these days and a few whiners were spotted and seemingly dealt with in the early 90s and 00s. Overall, these days, a nutso rugby parent is very hard to find.
After vending hundreds of youth events, we are here to declare, rugby parents are the best. We are in noooo danger from them. In fact, they may be helping to save the world... encouraging their children to incur a few bumps and earn a lifetime of pride by playing rugby.
Maybe their classiness is born from, typically, a low level of starting knowledge of the sport for most youth rugby parents in the US.... humility breeds grace, right?
But our final take is much more uplifting!
We like to believe it is from some of the essences of rugby itself.... dedication, honor, and class. And that does go for everyone.