A 29-year-old referee was kicked by a player after giving him a red card. He tells his story of the incident to football website Het Amsterdamsche Voetbal. Another sad chapter of violence against referees.
Just one week after the Dutch FA released a list with 10 things that are going to change to stop violence against referees in The Netherlands, three violent incidents against referees took place.
Arend van Laar was refereeing a match between OSC and SDZ in the Amsterdam region. In the 43rd minute all went wrong. He send of an OSC player, who strongly disagreed with him. His clothing was almost literally torn from his body before he also got a kick on his thigh.
Dutch police badge.
Van Laar experienced personal violence two years ago. “My first reaction is now to stop refereeing, but maybe that’s just the first emotion. The next week I’m going to think about it and have a conversation with the Dutch FA (KNVB).”
The player who got a red card made a tackle, but was way too late. “Firstly, he pulled the clothing of my body. It can’t be repaired. I decided immediately to abandon the match. Then he thought it was neccessary to kick me on my thigh. My safety on the pitch was completely gone by then.” The chairmen of both clubs then guided the referee of the pitch and helped him to the showers and the board room of the club.
But is he willing to hear the story of the player? “No, I am not trying to get in touch with him. If he really wants to, he should have a very good motivation. For now I am sick of it.”
I hope the referee recovers soon and will find joy in refereeing again. This violence against referees has to stop!
RT @dutchreferee: Dutch beaten up referee tells story of violence against him last Sunday. Read more on Dutch Referee Blog http://t.co/j …
we are not protected at all in the lower leagues!!
he got the help from both chairmen after the incident. They did not leave his side after the incident, but in lower leagues there are no police officers or security officers. Do you see a lot of violence against in your country, Rok?
yeah. this lower leagues are hard for us. players in this leagues are not paid for playing and can’t be punished by their own clubs. only punishment isban for a few games and that’s just not enough.
all the violence has reduced significantly over the years. But Like Matic said, the only thing you can do in the lower leagues is to ban them from playing matches.
This referee went to court and I hope this will not only result in a lifelong ban from the FA, but also a punishment by legal court. Can players only be banned for a few months? Dutch FA has given 74 lifelong bands during the 2011/2012 season. In the seasons before it only happened five times in total that players were not allowed to play football anymore.
yeah. i’m referee for 8years now and only incident was when 18yrs old player grab me and pushed me while i was giving him red card. he didn’t play for about 6months because of this. Here in Slovenia there is not so much violence.In our 4th division league last year was just one incident. player took whistle from referee’s mouth and throw it away 🙂
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The longest ban I had seen regarding violence was a 2 year ban. But in Slovenia attacks on referees are not so popular. verbal violence is more popular from the players and coaches.
Happy for you that attacks on referees are rare. I’ve not experienced violence as well in ten years of refereeing, Matic. Only 11 players standing in a circle around me after I gave their goalie a red card. Impressive, but they did not touch me luckily.