Section 43B. (a) Whoever willfully and maliciously engages in an act or series of acts during the course of a sporting event directed at a sports official, who is acting in their official capacity, which seriously alarms that sports official and would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress, shall be guilty of the crime of criminal harassment against a sports official and shall be punished by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than 2 1/2 years or by a fine of not more than $1,000, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(b) Whoever, after having been convicted of the crime of criminal harassment against a sports official, commits a second or subsequent such crime shall be punished by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than 2 1/2 years or by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than ten years.

(c) As used in this section, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:-

“Sports official”, any person who serves as a referee, umpire, line judge, scorer, timer, or who acts in any similar capacity, whether paid or volunteer, during a sporting event and is registered by, or a member of, a local, state, regional or national organization engaged in providing education and training to sports officials.

“Sporting event”, any interscholastic or intramural athletic activity in a primary, middle, junior high, or high school, college, or university, any organized athletic activity sponsored by a community, business, or nonprofit organization, or any semiprofessional athletic activity that is officiated by a sports official.