The assault on a high Turkish referee this week was an instance of the “cancer” that threatens to kill soccer, main FIFA official Pierluigi Collina mentioned Wednesday.
Halil Umut Meler was hospitalized after being attacked by Ankaragücü president Faruk Koca on the finish of a match Monday. He was additionally kicked by followers who invaded the sector.
“It’s a responsibility for all those who love the ‘beautiful game’ to take action and do something. Before it’s too late, before this cancer will kill football,” mentioned Collina, chairman of FIFA’s Referees Committee.
Meler sustained a slight fracture close to his eye and was discharged from hospital Wednesday.
Koca punched the referee after the ultimate whistle of a 1-1 attract a Süper Lig recreation towards Rizespor. Meler fell to the bottom and was additionally kicked in a melee when followers invaded the pitch after Rizespor scored a last-minute equalizer.
Koca and two different individuals have been positioned underneath pretrial detention, dealing with costs of inflicting damage to a public official.
“The image of Halil Umut lying on the ground, with his hands protecting his head while he was kicked by his assaulters, as well as the image of the bruise under his eye, are horrific,” Collina mentioned in a press release.
“But even more horrific is to know that there are thousands of referees around the world who are verbally and physically abused at lower levels of the game across the world, without being reported by media.”
Collina, a former high referee, mentioned much more critical incidents of violence in the direction of officers have been taking place all over the world.
“A referee cannot be beaten because of a decision they took, even if it’s wrong,” he mentioned.
“His or her car cannot be bombed or set on fire because of a penalty kick. Unfortunately this is not an exaggeration, as cars bombs and cars being set on fire is something that has happened in some countries, and not so rarely.”
Koca is reported to have instructed prosecutors throughout questioning that he slapped Meler.
He later introduced his resignation.
“I apologize to the Turkish referee and sports community, to the Turkish people and especially to Mr. Meler and his family for the attitude I displayed toward Halil Umut Meler,” he mentioned in a press release learn by his lawyer late Tuesday.
Worrying indicators
In current occasions there have been plenty of excessive profile incidents involving assaults or threats made towards officers in soccer.
In Brazil, the president of fourth-division membership Sergipe was suspended after he got here onto the pitch and punched a referee in March. Last month, an official with Brazilian membership Corinthians tried to interrupt into the VAR room after one of many workforce’s gamers was despatched off.
English referee Anthony Taylor and his household needed to be escorted away by safety at an airport in Hungary after Roma followers focused him and threw a chair in his path after the Europa League closing in May.
More excessive incidents embody the gun-toting proprietor of Greek workforce PAOK Thessaloniki marching onto the sector following a disputed purpose in 2018. And a weekend soccer participant was sentenced to no less than eight years in jail in 2015 within the United States for a punch that killed a referee.
Football has for a very long time been involved about how abuse on the high of the game can result in rising incidents at beginner and youth stage.
A referees’ charity in England has warned incidents just like the one in Türkiye may quickly be repeated within the Premier League.
“The desensitization of ref abuse has been left to fester for far too long and an incident like this, live on TV, is just around the corner in top-flight football in the U.K. unless we have a huge change in attitude and culture towards match officials at all levels of the game,” mentioned Martin Cassidy, chief government of Ref Support UK.
“Referees all over the world have, for far too long, been viewed as fair game no matter what age the referee is. Referees are an endangered species due to abuse, threats and assaults.”
Silver lining
Despite these fears, the physique that runs referees and officers in England, mentioned Wednesday that there had been a “significant decrease” in unacceptable habits this season in comparison with the identical level final season.
The Professional Game Match Officials (PGMOL) has clamped down on what it describes as conduct on the sector and on the sidelines in any respect ranges of professional soccer in England.
As a end result it mentioned there had been a 37% lower in costs for surrounding match officers, dropping from 19 to 12. According to its figures there has additionally been 43% lower in costs for mass confrontations (61 to 35) and a ten% discount of costs for “technical area misconduct” (70 to 63).
“A culture change won’t happen overnight and it is early days, but we are moving in the right direction and our officials are successfully delivering on our part of the collective football effort to reset behaviors, protect the reputation and promote the positive image of the game for the next generations,” PGMOL chief Howard Webb mentioned.
There has been an 88% enhance in cautions for acts of dissent from gamers, which is probably going a results of the PGMOL’s clampdown. Numbers went up from 966 to 1,813 cautions.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
