Monday, December 10, 2012

Extra Time - Officials are just doing their job



While it’s easy to be wrapped up in the week to week drama of the soccer season, one often loses sight of the fact that it is just a game. Life, with all due respect to a famous manager who, apparently, said otherwise, is far more important than football.

On December 2, 2012, Dutch amateur linesman Richard Nieuwenhuizen, 41, was attacked during a youth team game he was officiating. He died of severe head injuries the next day. He was running the lines during a game between his club Buitenboys, from Almere near Amsterdam, and Amsterdam club Nieuw Sloten. After a call that went against them, four teenage players from Nieuw Sloten, between 15 and 16 years of age, assaulted him, right on the pitch. Richard’s own sons, two of whom were playing for Buitenboys, looked on in horror, as he was kicked to the ground. The assailants are in custody and have been charged with manslaughter. Nieuw Sloten has expelled the players and withdrawn the team.

Contention over a call during an amateur soccer game has resulted in the death of an official.

It’s a sad commentary on the state of affairs in the game, that respect for officialdom has fallen so far; that outright violence is apparently a considered option. While the behaviour of Chelsea fans in 2006, who threw objects at Danish referee Kim Milton Nielsen during a Champions’ League game, causing him to bleed from the head, and prompting his retirement from officiating shortly after, will forever be derided, the relative lack of response by UEFA was even more damning.

More recently, Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho, manager of one of the highest profile clubs in the world, physically assaulted an opposing coach (his eye poke of Tito Villanova after a Real-Barcelona Super Cup game last season) and got into a spat with Atletico Madrid assistant coach German Burgos this season. Burgos was caught on camera threatening Mourinho by reminding him that unlike the soft spoken Villanova, he would ‘rip Mourinho’s head off’. La Liga is one of the most watched leagues in the world and this kind of behavior sets a bad example to fans, notably the immature and the young. Burgos’ conduct was deplorable and he should be fined and banned. However Mourinho has plenty of previous, and is an abrasive and combative character who gets into fights and verbally abusive situations that could lead to violence, in every league he has worked in. Nonetheless, the lack of response by any governing body to his mentality and petty squabbling is deafening. He is a high profile figure in the game that incites the baser aspects of human behavior. UEFA and/or the LFP should make an example of him by fining and banning him. Only then will an example be set that behavior which suggests or contributes to violence, will no longer be tolerated in the game.

This is another lesson that soccer can learn from North American sports leagues. Throat slashing gestures are banned in the NHL. Of course the irony, of a league that allows fighting during games, to support such legislation, is not lost on this column. However, the point is, that outside of fighting, which is a central part of hockey culture, any element of human behavior that suggests violence or encourages it, is dealt with severely. And in any case, players who fight during hockey games are given game misconducts and are removed from the game. Moreover, NHL players who get into physical confrontations with officials or fans are heavily fined. In the NBA, Gilbert Arenas was fined and banned for mimicking a gun during a pre game warmup. Other players have been banned for nearly an entire season for getting into fights. In the NFL, another notoriously violent contact sport, the coach of one of the league’s best teams, was banned for an entire season, for allegedly knowing about and not preventing his players from participating in overtly violent hits on the opposition for money rewards. Can you imagine a single soccer player or coach worrying about sanctions for encouraging his players for reducing the opposition with over the top tackles or for generally haranguing the officials?

Physicality will always remain in any contact sport. Sport, by its very nature is a passionate activity that promotes and thrives on tribalism, however the moment violence spills over and officials are the target, the game is broken and needs to be fixed by legislation from the governing bodies.

Several notable managers routinely and regularly belittle, bully and intimidate officials, setting a bad example and sending a message that disrespect towards referees is acceptable. FIFA and all the different continental associations and Leagues need to table a set of laws preventing such behavior with strict sentences, consistent rulings and the lack of appeal. However, too often, very little is done, since clubs, players and managers often overshadow the league. While these laws will seem draconian at first, over time they will become part of the consciousness of both fans and players, who will know that any form of aggression, mental, verbal or physical towards officials will not be tolerated. Soccer has worked hard to kick racism out of the game. It’s time to nip the emerging trend of violence and disrespect as well.

The way things are, at some point, what happened to Nieuwenhuizen, will recur at a more high profile game. While the thought of another official being severely injured and possibly losing his life, is a shuddering thought, it is also a sobering concept. Has our approach to the game gotten that out of hand?