Youth soccer referee dies after attack

I know a 15-year-old kid who was physically attacked at the complex I referee at, about a month ago at a tournament. The coach has been suspended indefinitely, and last I heard, assault charges were either going to be or had been filed. From talking to some of the other refs I work with, this 15-year old kid is a good referee. I don't know if he had a bad game or not. To me, it doesn't make a bit of difference. Under no circumstances is a player, coach or fan ever allowed to touch a referee.

To answer your question, I can't think of a referee I know that has been attacked more than once. But having said that, I refereed many intramural soccer games in college. Rec ball, pretty much. The men's leagues, predictably, had many testosterone-filled jackasses. I had to sort through a couple fights, and the Greek division champ had the biggest group of pricks. I had to referee their championship game. All season, those fucktards were assholes to me and anyone I worked with. Maybe it was me. But maybe not, when you consider that no matter who I reffed with, those players were assholes to them also. Did they ever physically attack me or people I worked with? No. But when you constantly act like a dicknose, no matter the score, the opponent or the referee, the problem is not with the refs.

 

I hope his tombstone reads to Devil93's satisfaction:

RIP He Was A Shitty Ref

 

There is a reason 24 states have laws that specifically cover extra charges for attacking a sports official. (Utah isn't one of them.)

http://www.naso.org/Resources/Legislation/StateLegislation.aspx

 

Extra charges shouldn't be necessary in this case. Murder should do it.


Although they might slow down the kids-league dad thinking about punching the umpire in the gut.

 

Generally, these laws are used an extra charges on top of whatever assault, battery, manslaughter, etc. would be filed to begin with. In some cases it kicks up a misdemeanor assault to a felony. The laws, while they seem to equate being a ref with being a cop, actually say less about the elevated stature of sports officials in our society and more about people's propensity to pop them when they never do the same to anyone else.

 

Please show me the line that says this.

Because the phrasing I just read actually said "Portillo's family said he had been attacked before..." which is fairly ambiguous wording that could mean only one time, not "multiple occasions" and does not necessarily mean taking physical "beatings."

So is that line the entire basis for your claim that he must've been a shitty ref?

 

Without bothering to link, I can say I did see stories that he had been attacked and injured a few times before, which is why his family begged him to stop refereeing.

Of course, what the stories don't say is whether he was particularly the target of abuse, or whether this league in general had problems with people going after the officials.

 

RIP: Ref in Peace.

 

A brief note from Chef to the good parents/observers/fans of the world who consistently bitch at umpires/referees.......

You think you can do better? Then crawl your fat ass between the lines, and go to work.

I have shirts/pants in all sizes, rule books for every sport under the sun, and a whistle that will more than work.

I have reffed/umped for 24 years. I umpired my first baseball game when I was 14. I do all sports.....HS Football/Softball/Basketball.

Bad calls happen all the time.

Is bitching about the call going to change the call?
NO.

Is slapping the umpire going to change the call?
NO.

Is there anything you can do to change the call?
NO. So sit back, have a nice frosty mug of shut the fuck up, and enjoy the game.

There is nothing you can do to change the call. It's our call. Not your call. Right, wrong, or indifferent, it's our call. You don't like it? Fantastic. You do like it? Fantastic as well.

 

Atta boy Chef.

It's amazing how friendly refs and coaches and players are to one another before games. Then as soon as the game starts, it's like coaches view refs as the enemy.

 

There were other previous stories which said he had broken ribs and legs.

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/soccer_ref_dies_nearly_a_week_after_he_is_punched_by_goalie_charges_are_und/

 

Another amen from the choir, Chef2. I don't think most fans stop to think that refs at the youth/rec/high school level are teachers, salesmen, ect., who just love the games. Our marketing manager even reffed high school soccer until she got injured in a pickup game. The guy who runs the association here also does some stat work for a local juco and is the PA man for a minor league team.

Mom and dad, if you think you can do better, pick up a whistle. And if your spawn can't adjust to his/her strike zone, it's their problem, not a story for me.