Football ref attacked on field

One time I was in a crowded sports bar and everybody was roaring out with the whole range of emotion and excitement. I hollered out that, "It is only a game!" I'm not exactly sure what happened next, but I sorta woke up in the parking lot and I had been beaten to a pulp and could barely move. I heard a soft voice coming from somewhere behind me. They said, "It's only a scratch."
 
As a Texas sports official, this assault (word used intentionally) has me angry. The second player led with his helmet while the official was on the ground. The kids have been suspended from the team and from school for the year. Criminal charges are still on the table. Assault of a sports official is a class B misdemeanor. No, it won't be forgotten in a week.

Arthwollipot, there are other crimes in the US for which the penalty is greater for certain classes of victim. IANAL, but I believe in Texas assault of someone over 65(?) is more serious than "regular" assault. If a murder victim is a police officer, that is one trigger permitting the charge to be upgraded to "capital" murder, which puts the death penalty on the table. Wrongful death lawsuits have to put a price on the worth of the victim. People can differ on whether or not they think this is fair.

I'm ok with a law specific to sports officials. Sports officials put themselves in harm's way. As a football player, I am going to see most hits coming. There are penalties for blocking in the back, clipping, hitting a defenseless receiver, etc. Referees stand in the middle of the action with no padding. They have to assume they will not be a target in order to do their job.

I umpire baseball. Yes, I wear padding behind the plate. Even though I see it coming, I depend upon the catcher at least making an attempt to catch/block/deflect. In order to do my job calling balls and strikes, I have to stay still no matter where the ball is headed. A pitcher/catcher intentionally throwing at the umpire's head does happen. Sorry I can't provide the youtube link from work. There is a recent example of a college game where the pitcher threw at the umpire's head and the catcher ducked. It was a planned play. 70+mph to the head, untouched by the catcher, while unprepared for impact, is serious. Headache at best, concussion and associated brain damage at worst.

As for fans, yeah - I appreciate something that hopefully makes them think twice. I've been threatened. I've stayed in the changing room until others left. Every call the official make has the potential to upset 50% of the fans. Not all states have these laws. YMMV
 
ddt said:
Not during the game, but directly after it: in 2012, in the Netherlands, six youth players and a parent beat up an assistant referee, resulting in his death. In the ensuing public discussion about the case, it became clear that this "incident" was only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to violence against (assistant) referees.
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I'm sorry: you MUST be lying. After all, everyone KNOWS this only happens in the United States -- Texas in particular.

:D

Beanbag
 
Parents attending sporting events in Texas beat each other up or go after officials all the time. Usually it's football, but I've personally witnessed it at soccer games as well. Even at the recreational level, if parents or spectators are out of control the team is penalized. Players can and have been banned for life. Criminal charges are frequent against parents, but usually the players would never think of assaulting a referee as they know the consequences.

So if some of you haven't heard of these laws then I'm guessing you don't have the same problems with parents to the level that we do here in Texas.
 
I wonder if some of the parent violence might be related to the idea that their child might become a professional sport player and somehow bad calls can stand in the way of that. A reaction as if something important has been stolen from their child and may effect their future. Pro athletes can make an awful lot of money and that money is then brought into their family. Would any of this go away if pros were only paid an average working class salary?
 
I've watched the video at least 10 times now. Although we can see that the ref was targeted there seems to be a degree of plan and timing for what they did. It looks like they did what they thought might end up looking like an unfortunate accident. They do it while running towards an active play and time their attack to coincide with that. They could have attacked the ref at any time they wanted including between plays or nowhere near an active play. This looks like they were trying to get away with it without punishment because the idea was to make it less obvious so that any observers would be arguing amongst themselves as to whether they witnessed an attack or an accident. The video tells the tale but those kids may have only been thinking of the spectators as eyewitnesses.

I suspect that they were wanting to get away with the attack based on the method that they chose. They wanted to hurt that referee and not pay any real price for doing it.
 
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dudalb said:
Now the suspended students are saying the refs used racist language.
Forgive me for being a little skeptical about that.
When in doubt,play the Race Card.
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The ref is immediately responding with a libel lawsuit, suggesting it is an obvious lie (and that doesn't excuse it anyway.)

When no one knows yet if there is better audio somewhere.

Which side is more confident at the moment?
 
William Parcher said:
I've watched the video at least 10 times now. Although we can see that the ref was targeted there seems to be a degree of plan and timing for what they did. It looks like they did what they thought might end up looking like an unfortunate accident. They do it while running towards an active play and time their attack to coincide with that. They could have attacked the ref at any time they wanted including between plays or nowhere near an active play. This looks like they were trying to get away with it without punishment because the idea was to make it less obvious so that any observers would be arguing amongst themselves as to whether they witnessed an attack or an accident. The video tells the tale but those kids may have only been thinking of the spectators as eyewitnesses.

I suspect that they were wanting to get away with the attack based on the method that they chose. They wanted to hurt that referee and not pay any real price for doing it.
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Agreed. That is one more reason I discount their "fighting words" defense. You cannot say, "his words were so inflammatory that I lost control and my immediate reaction was to talk to another player, plan a two-part attack, line up in my position, and then tackle him from behind once the play started."
 
Dumb All Over said:
If the ref directed racist language toward the players, the players should have immediately reported this to their coaches, not knock the guy silly from his blindside and pile on.
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Just a minor technical - I've seen the video, where is the coach supposed to have racist commented that only they witnessed???
 
fuelair said:
Just a minor technical - I've seen the video, where is the coach supposed to have racist commented that only they witnessed???
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Do you mean the ref?

At any rate he could have said something at any point in the game, & if so maybe they stewed over it until they decided to act, but I can't see that helping their case. I mean maybe if he'd said something & they went after him then & there, some might see it as mitigating, but this seems like cya after the fact. (Or possibly cyca for their coach.)
 
332nd said:
Do you mean the ref?

At any rate he could have said something at any point in the game, & if so maybe they stewed over it until they decided to act, but I can't see that helping their case. I mean maybe if he'd said something & they went after him then & there, some might see it as mitigating, but this seems like cya after the fact. (Or possibly cyca for their coach.)
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Yep - sorry about that!!!
 
steve s said:
It's Texas. Football isn't a game; it's a religion.


Steve S
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:D
Sheldon Cooper said:
Football is ubiquitous in Texas. Pro football, college football, high school football, Pee-Wee football; in fact, every form of football except the original: European football, which most Texans believe to be a commie plot.
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fuelair said:
Just a minor technical - I've seen the video, where is the coach supposed to have racist commented that only they witnessed???
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That's a great question. Certainly not any time during the video I've seen. I'd guess, therefore, it happened before the beginning of the video, if it happened at all, which I believe it did not.
 
William Parcher said:
I wonder if some of the parent violence might be related to the idea that their child might become a professional sport player and somehow bad calls can stand in the way of that. A reaction as if something important has been stolen from their child and may effect their future. Pro athletes can make an awful lot of money and that money is then brought into their family. Would any of this go away if pros were only paid an average working class salary?
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I have definitely had parents tell me (and my supervisor and league president and anyone who might listen) that I have "cheated their kids", that their kids were being scouted (at 12 years old), that to make [whatever ruling I made] would hurt their career, I stole their chances to go to playoffs, etc. I don't think it is uncommon, but I could not guess at what percentage of those that hold those views cross the line to violence. As a matter of personal opinion, anyone whose mental process justifies screaming abuse, obscene or not, at officials is closer to violence line than others.
 
There are reports now that an assistant coach may have made a comment that the ref needed to be punished for a prior call. Not that this excuses the kids, but it brings more people into the realm of guilty.

The team will be playing this weekend, of course.
 
CriticalThanking said:
...I have "cheated their kids", that their kids were being scouted (at 12 years old), that to make [whatever ruling I made] would hurt their career...
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Or a variation on that which could be...

My kid won't even be on the field when the scouts come looking and that will be all your fault.
 
William Parcher said:
Or a variation on that which could be...

My kid won't even be on the field when the scouts come looking and that will be all your fault.
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My response to that, were the situation to occur, would have to be:" I really do not give a flying **** about scouts - we have a game to win!!!!!"
 
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