Being a referee can be one of the toughest and most thankless jobs in sports. As a referee, you must be thick-skinned and able to ignore the constant taunting from players and fans. In recent time, however, there's been a disturbing trend of players and fans crossing the line from verbal to physical abuse.
Case in point, last week a referee in Livonia, Michigan died after a sucker punch during an adult soccer game put him into critical condition. Perhaps most disturbing about this incident is that the punch occurred during a men’s recreational game.
John Bieniewicz seen with family (Photo: ClickOnDetroit)
John Bieniewicz was refereeing the game Sunday at Mies Park in Livonia. He had decided to eject player Bassel Saad of Dearborn, Michigan and, while he was reaching in his pocket for the red card with his head down, Saad punched him in the neck and chin area. Bieniewicz was immediately out cold, according to an eye witness. Saad was initially charged with assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder. However, prosecutors are reviewing the charges again after Bieniewicz’s death.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time something like this has occurred. A little over a year ago, a 17-year-old player was charged after delivering a fatal punch to 46-year-old referee, Ricardo Portillo, during a youth soccer match in Utah. Portillo had issued the teen a yellow card after a penalty against the goalie. Once the card was issued, the player wound up and struck Portillo in the jaw sending him into a week-long coma, eventually leading to his death.
Portillo seen in the middle holding the ball (Photo: Rick Bowmer | AP)
There seems to be a trend concerning assaults on referees in recreational adult and youth matches. However, many of these serious assaults go unreported, according to Barry Mano, president of the National Association of Sports Officials. He goes on to mention, “Now it’s part and parcel of what we do, and not a week goes by where we don’t get a least two or three calls with reports of officials being assaulted.” It begs to question why these amateur players aren’t able to restrain their anger during these matches? Especially since this kind of violence against officials is not on display in the many professional leagues which amateur and youth players watch.
In our opinion, it is precisely because these mateur and youth matches are less "visible" that violence like this can persist. Specifically, it seems that many players feel that since they aren’t in the spotlight, these attacks are somehow more acceptable - or, at least, easier to get away with. One is reminded of the persistent problems of racism in soccer that The18 has covered in the past - and the way that this behavior persists until the public and giverning body take them seriously enough to make them highly visible and punishable.
While there's obviously no easy solution for violence against referees across all of the many leagues in the U.S. and beyond, perhaps a policy of self-enforcement and public shaming is in order. (For example, imagine the outrage within communities if videos of this type of violence went "viral" in social media and exposed the bad behavior of individuals to their family, friends and peers.) With no widespread public action on the horizon, however, perhaps we'll have to wait for this problem to truly rear its ugly head before we take steps towards finding a solution.
