Youth soccer referee dies after attack

Ask her if there are more problems at games of certain refs than others.

 

Why does that even matter, what point are you trying to make? Do yo think he deserved this because he may have been a shitty official?

 

Never said he deserved it.

 

"The game that captivates the rest of the world remains only a niche product at home. Soccer is the Canada of American sports, viewed less with contempt than with indifference.
/ Jeffrey Toobin.

 

They weren't as unlucky as the soccer official who died from a punch to the head. But they were still attacked.

 

Never mind him, JC. He's digging himself a deeper hole.

And it was already pretty deep given the ignorance and tone ...

 

I was an assistant referee for a U14 boys game a couple weeks ago. The day before, one of the teams had two red cards. The other two guys I worked with did not do that game, and neither did I.

The game we did with this team included two more yellow cards, including one because the goalkeeper told an opponent he was going to kick his ass after the game. The coach also spent three minutes on the field after an opponent's goal because his goalkeeper got hurt. He spent about 15 seconds of those three minutes with his goalkeeper. The rest of the time, he bitched about a no-call right before the goal, and bitching that he had to sub out his goalkeeper for tending to him, even though he had no subs (thanks to the red cards the day before).

The team with the red cards lost 6-1. After ever single goal they allowed, they bitched. They weren't simply questioning offside or a foul. They bitched.

After the game, the hot-headed goalkeeper decided to try to stay good on his promise to kick his opponent's ass. After he went through the handshake line (slapping everyone's hands about as hard as he could), he began to walk toward that one opponent. I chased both back to their benches. And while we waited for the next game, the goalkeeper waited in the parking lot for this one player. He only stopped waiting when the other player was hanging out with his family.

I have a plenty of other incidents I could tell you about. I'm not saying there aren't bad referees out there. Of course there are. I work with some. I have shitty games. But more often than not, the problems aren't with the refs. They are with specific teams/players/coaches.

 

As best I can tell the league was a Latino league of some sort. I'm not sure if it was a seriously competitive league or a recreational league. They were high school-aged kids but were they kids who also played for their school teams and maybe wanted to play in college or was it a more recreational league?
And how big is soccer in Utah?

 

Did they physically attack the refs?

Do you know anyone who was physically attacked on multiple occasions?

If you are blowing calls, the hostility the players have for each other is now directed at you.

 

zagoshe lauds the consistency of Devil's beliefs. It would be easy to cave, join the crowd and say the guy didn't deserve to be beaten to death for being a bad ref. But Devil is being true to himself. Kudos!

 

Never said he deserved it.

But shitty refs take more abuse than others, and the line at the end of the story said he was beaten on multiple occasions.

What have you reffed?

 

93, I can't believe your crusade against shitty rec league refs. "DEATH BEFORE BAD REFFING!"

When I've coached, I've told parents and kids that the ability of the officials is proportional to the ability of the players. Meaning, don't expect impeccable calls at your third-grader's basketball game. I also teach my players (and parents) that if the kids are focused on the refs, they're not focused on their games, and they will not play well.

I'm not excusing volunteer or low-paid rec league refs for intentionally not caring about what they're doing. But I am saying that it's ridiculous to get worked up over officiating in such a low-stakes environment. In a rec league or a youth league game -- heck, even in high school -- the point of playing is not winning or losing, but improving as a player so you can either get to a higher level, or merely perform well in a sport you enjoy, hopefully getting the opportunity to play it recreationally into adulthood.

I have a 17-year-old nephew who is starting his first season as an ump in youth league baseball, and I'm a little worried about him. He's been told he can boot out any parent or fan who gets really unruly, but you and I both know that a parent that worked up isn't going to listen to anyone, much less a 17-year-old.