On
May 5, Ricardo Portilla died in a coma ten days after being punched for giving
a yellow card in a recreational league soccer game. This was not the
first time that he had been attacked, and his family had had begged him to give
up officiating for fear that he would sustain a serious injury. The
incident occurred not in a tournament or state championship but in a recreational
league game! The league’s “no tolerance policy” for player violence didn’t
deter the angry outburst.
The
abuse of referees is rampant throughout sports at all ages and competitive
levels. It starts with the coaches and fans. Eventually the
children follow. Insults, intimidation, and occasional threats are the
rule. We generally look the other way until the abuse becomes
physical. Six weeks earlier, CNN broke a story about soccer referees in
Europe being “under siege,” (http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/14/sport/football/referee-violence-spain-football).
That story featured an incident in the Netherlands in which a group of
adolescent players beat a volunteer linesman to death.
Let’s
hope that the youth sports community in the United States will respond to
Ricardo Portilla’s death with the moral outrage expressed throughout
Europe. The problem of referee abuse lies with an adult-constructed youth
sports environment in which respect for rules, referees, and fairness seems
quaint. Getting away with as much as possible and manipulating referees
is the now the norm. Ricardo Portilla refereed recreational soccer
because he loved the game and those who played it. We owe it to him and
to our children to change the toxic culture that foments violence and
disrespect.
