NEWARK, N.J.—A recent National Hockey League game between the New Jersey Devils and the Florida Panthers was a wild ride with 13 goals and an overtime winner. But the loudest cheers in the arena weren’t for either team: They were for the referees.
In the upper corner of Newark’s Prudential Center, a boisterous crowd of around 200 fans dressed in striped referee jerseys spent most of the game on their feet, celebrating every icing whistle as if it was a goal. Their heroes weren’t Devils stars Jack Hughes or P.K. Subban, they were Eric Furlatt and Corey Syvret, the officials for the night.
Chants like “R-E-F-S refs, refs, refs” and “We believe in sportsmanship” echoed through the stands. At odd times, when the rest of the arena was quiet, the referee section suddenly erupted in frenetic cheers. The reason: The referee on the ice had just blown his whistle. So-called puck drops, where the linesman places the puck between two waiting players, were a particular source of excitement.
"That’s a really nice drop," remarked one fan after what he considered a stellar display of technique. The crowd drew high-fives and bemused looks from nearby Devils fans, and an appreciative wave from one of the refs on the ice.
The striped attendees are part of a small but growing fringe movement of sports fans who go to games to cheer for the officials. In the New York area, Referee Appreciation Night started out with a handful of friends but now draws hundreds to NHL games, usually once a year. Similar groups have popped up at NHL games in Washington, D.C. and in German amateur soccer.
"We get some of the worst seats and we’re always the loudest section,” said Mike Messina, a part-time youth-hockey referee and one of Ref Night’s regular attendees.
New York’s Ref Night is, by everyone’s admission, at least partly intended as a joke. It’s a spoof of fan culture, an over-the-top display of cheering for those who usually only get jeers. It’s also an excuse to get drunk and watch hockey.
April’s ref night in Newark started two hours before the game at a bar near the arena, where the crowd downed beers and held a competition for the best sign. Some examples this year read “Offsides? We’re on your side,” and “Wow! That’s a good call!” First place went to a double entendre involving the penalty box that isn’t fit for a family newspaper. The reward: a grotesquely large check for “7ish Canadian bucks.”
Few ref-night participants are actual referees. Most are in their twenties and thirties, with the exception of a legendary toddler nicknamed Baby Ref who has been attending Ref Nights with his parents for years. “He’s like a Young-Adult Ref now, he’s all grown up,” said Chris King, who organizes the annual event with his friend Max Gerschman.
Messrs. Gerschman and King, both passionate hockey fans, got the idea for Ref Night in 2016. A friend had offered them tickets to a New York Islanders game in Brooklyn, but neither of them cared much for the team. So they thought it might be fun to show up and root for the officials instead. The first time, in 2017, fewer than 30 people joined them. The next time about 120 came, then 300 and finally, in early 2020, about 360 showed up, Mr. Gerschman said. This April’s game was the first ref night since the start of the pandemic and the crowd was slightly smaller but no less enthusiastic.
Sometimes regular fans stop by to ask for photos. Other encounters are more tense. One year, Islanders supporters ended up with seats right behind the referee section. They got so annoyed at the commotion that one of them threw a beer, Mr. King recalled.
Like their idols on the ice, the ref boosters in the stands remained cool, calmed down tempers and waited for arena security to escort the thrower out while apologizing for the disturbance in fake Canadian accents.
The ref supporters also get a mixed reaction online. In 2017, the popular blog Barstool Sports published a post titled “We Cannot Allow Cheering For The Refs To Become A Thing.”
“The refs do not care about the game, they only care about ruining your life and your chances of ever achieving happiness through sports fandom,” the post read. “So just what in the friggin’ heck are we doing cheering them on while they continue to be a threat to society?????”
Ref Night isn’t just about fun. The event raises money for charity (this year’s funds went to a nonprofit helping Ukrainians impacted by the war) and shows appreciation for the hard and often thankless work that referees do.
In 2020, Messrs. Gerschman and King won the prestigious Musial award, which recognizes sportsmanship. “You usually skate out and you expect some jeers and some boos, but all of a sudden we’re getting an ovation,” NHL linesman Steve Barton said in a video produced for the event, recalling his encounter with the striped fans.
The Brigade Hartmut Strampe aims to do a similar solid for soccer refs in Germany. Founded in 2015 by sports journalist Alex Raack, the group is named for an infamous, mustachioed soccer referee who once handed out a staggering 14 yellow and red penalty cards during a match between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.
Until the pandemic, the Brigade would show up to Berlin-area amateur soccer games, waving scarves, flags and banners showing Mr. Strampe’s stern mug, chanting “eagle eye” after off-side calls and confusing everyone—not least the referees themselves.
One of the group’s go-to chants is a friendly spin on an old German fan song that usually threatens vandalism or worse: “Ref, we know where your car is parked—we filled the tank for you.”
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