This scourge is unfortunately far from being eradicated. A week after a referee was violently assaulted during a District de Seine-et-Marne senior match between Melun and Bagneux-Nemours, a new referee, aged just 18, was brutalized last Saturday after an U17 match of the Somme District.
Theo, who has been in the center of the field since December, had a nightmarish afternoon during the match between RC Salouël-Saleux and Albert (0-1). He was the victim of a cranial trauma, a head injury at the level of the forehead as well as a dermabrasion at the level of the right cervical on seven centimeters high. This Monday, April 4 in the afternoon, he filed a complaint at the Amiens police station.
Two days after the events, Theo reconsiders the circumstances of the attack. “Parents who disputed my decisions came to me after the match, after insulting me throughout the game, to insult me again as I headed to the locker room with the players, says the student in history degree. A player from RC Salouël-Saleux also started shouting at me. So I expelled him respecting the rules, as indicated by law 12 which allows a red card to be issued after the match. That’s when this player’s mother slapped me. »
Helped by the leaders and the delegates, Theo is however attacked by several people, including the brother of the expelled player. “They hit me several times, including one on the head. I fell to the ground but they kept hitting me, continues the man in black. I was relieved by the leaders of Albert, then I locked myself (in the locker room) during one hour. I called other official referees who told me the procedure to follow. The police then intervened and took the names and surnames of the accused and witnesses to make a report. »
“It is not possible to attack a referee, one day there will be a tragedy”
His parents then take him to the hospital, where the doctors diagnose in particular a cranial traumatism and an injury to the head. He was prescribed three days of ITT. “I was very shocked but it’s better. When I was in the locker room, I wanted to stop refereeing, he says. But I received many messages of support which allowed me to regain my self-confidence. I don’t want to give reason to my attackers. »
This Thursday, April 7, an investigation will be opened by the Disciplinary Committee of the District of the Somme. RC Salouël-Saleux has already taken the initiative to exclude the two incriminated players from the club. The structure will also file a complaint with the public prosecutor of Amiens.
“We will work hard to find solutions. It is not possible to attack a referee. One day, there will be a drama, scolds Pascal Tranquille, the president of the District of the Somme. There are two levels of reflection. We must first toughen the sanctions. We need repression with more drastic measures, that is to say that an attacker of a referee must no longer practice football tomorrow or in ten years. We must also promote education. We have a lot of tools at the federal level. We must intensify this among the youngest. Once and for all, the players must accept defeat. »
