Ref’s death shows how backlash turns foul
Erik Lane has witnessed plenty of verbal abuse on the soccer field.
From fans yelling at coaches to coaches screaming at players to players yelling at officials. The sport is intense, and the atmosphere reflects that.
As many times as Lane, boys soccer coach at Brenham, has seen drama erupt during a match, he has only seen it escalate to a scary situation once — in December 1994 at Dyess Park in Cypress during a South Texas Youth Soccer Association game. A player punched the referee, knocking him unconscious. The player was banned for life from the organization.
“The referee was marking down a yellow card, and the kid just up and hit him,” Lane said. “No one would have seen that coming.”
Richard Portillo, 46, a soccer referee in Salt Lake City, didn’t see it coming, either.
Last week, just days after being punched in the face by a 17-year-old player, Portillo died from his injuries. The player who punched him was charged with homicide by assault Wednesday. Salt Lake County prosecutors are looking to try the teen as an adult. Flaring tempers
The incident has sparked conversation among youth coaches, parents, players and officials. Could a situation like the one in Utah happen anywhere?
It happened in Alemere, a city in the Netherlands, last year when two 15-yearolds and a 16-year-old attacked and killed linesman Richard Nieuwenhuizen at the end of a youth soccer league match.
It happened in Rochester, N.Y., four years ago when football official Pete McCabe was smashed in the face by the helmet of a player. McCabe survived.
It happened in Spain in February when Hector Giner, 17, was officiating a game and was attacked. After taking repeated punches and kicks to his face and body, Giner underwent several surgeries and had his spleen removed.
“No matter the sport, there are arguments,” Lane said. “Sometimes things get heated but you have to hope it won’t go that far. Referees shouldn’t have to be walking into combat just to officiate a game.”
But in sports, the official is often the enemy before the game starts. Combine that mentality with the pressure youth athletes face today and things can escalate.
Sports psychology consultant Robert Andrews said that when a game gets out of hand with verbal or physical abuse, a number of factors could be at play. It could be off-the-field issues an athlete is having or it could be the atmosphere of the game.
He also said that resorting to violence is the norm.
“That’s what we see everywhere,” Andrews said. “People who are upset are acting out by physically attacking others.” ‘Big lack of respect’
Lane attributes the lashing out to the culture of youth sports today.
“Everyone gets a trophy, everyone wins,” he said. “People are forgetting that just showing up doesn’t give you the right to win, it gives you the right to compete to win. There is a big lack of respect and responsibility when you think you should win without working hard for it.”
That lack of respect often affects the officials as well.
Steven Haydon, the associate vice presidentdeputy chief legal officer at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and a club soccer official, said he worries about violence erupting on the field.
One suggestion, he said, is keeping your car keys with you and parking somewhere you can easily get away.
“Ninety percent of the time, everything is fine,” he said. “But once a couple of years ago, I made a call and a player was walking right toward me. He took a few steps then stopped himself and walked off the field instead. I was definitely worried.”
Brad Meekins, who has refereed at several levels — youth leagues all the way to semi-pro leagues — said the crowd plays a role in what is happening on the field and the actions of players’ parents and other fans can make a difference.
In youth leagues, where spectators can be near the action, sportsmanship is important.
“In the pros and semipros, in stadium settings, it is not as bad,” Meekins said. “But when you are on a field and parents are screaming at you and at their kids, the players pick that up and they react.”
One important way to prevent violence on the field is education, Andrews said.
“From little league baseball to peewee football, it starts at the top,” he said. “You need to coach parents and players in sportsmanship too.”
One of the programs that can help educate is the Positive Coaching Alliance, a national group that works with athletic departments, youth leagues and school districts to promote positive sports experience.
The Houston chapter of Positive Coaching Alliance works with more than 120 schools and youth groups, including all of the Houston ISD schools.
“I think it really helps,” junior soccer player Kevin Jones said. “When you are in a game and there is a bad call, you remember that you have to keep your head on straight and think of how your actions will affect your team. It is important to stay calm.”
One of the exercises the group encourages coaches to try is making bad calls on purpose in scrimmages to see how the assistant coaches and players react.
“You have to talk about these things before they happen so you can be prepared,” Positive Coaching Alliance Houston director Ben Rose said. Starts with coaches
Another group that emphasizes sportsmanship is the Houston Dynamo Academy, with players ages 12-18 who compete against other top players nationally.
On the first day of meetings, before any player steps onto a field or any parents step into the stands, academy members must read and sign a code of conduct.
“Our goal is to make all of these young men professional soccer players, but more importantly, we would like to make them better people,” said James Clarkson, Dynamo Academy director of youth development.
Clarkson said in all of his time in soccer, as a professional player in New Zealand to a youth coach in South Texas, he has never seen an official reverse a call. So he doesn’t see the point in spending too much time disrespecting referees.
“It starts with us, the coaches,” Clarkson said. “The tone we set with the way we talk to players, to the officials. We set a high standard for respect right away. That’s how we avoid these situations.”
jenny.dial@chron.com