Referee assaulted in November: penalties too low!

Two months ago, a young referee was assaulted during an amateur football match in the Val d'Oise.

Virginie Phulpin had called for exemplary sanctions.

That's it, the penalties have fallen but she does not find them heavy enough if we really want to stop violence in amateur sport. 

Let us recall the facts so that we can fully understand the seriousness of what happened in October.

It was a departmental match for under 18s, JS Pontoisienne hosted FC Ecouen.

A meeting punctuated by violence.

The coach of the Pontoisienne entered the field twice to challenge more than energetically the decisions of the referee.

Then a player from this team took a red card, he turned on the referee.

A whole host of sexist and discriminatory insults went on there, and he nudged her in the jaw.

Match stopped, but the club's supervisors continued their intimidation into the locker room.

Here is the table.

So obviously we were waiting for exemplary sanctions, because we no longer want to see that on a sports field.

The Val d'Oise disciplinary committee was not lax, it took its responsibilities towards the heavily punished offending player.

Six years of suspension.

For six years, he will not be able to have a license from the federation.

That said, he was playing unlicensed that Sunday, so it shouldn't bother him more than that.

But for the player, the sanction is logical and firm.

Very well.  

It is for supervisors that the penalties are less severe 

Three years of suspension for the coach, 18 months for an officer present during the match, and six months for the president who was not present that Sunday.

We are still talking about those who are supposed to supervise young people, educate them through sport, set an example.

And all they did was actively participate in the referee's aggression, escalate things and especially not calm the players, on the contrary.

All with young people who play without a license or under a false identity.

That is their responsibility.

Honestly, they have nothing more to do in an amateur club.

Not now, not in a few months.

These supervisors undermine all the work of the vast majority of volunteers, and they disgust many others who might have wanted to referee amateur matches.

These are the kinds of characters that spoil the climate in small clubs, and that make some parents say to themselves "well no, I don't want my child to join football".

So yes, outright radiation would have seemed more suited to Virginie Phulpin.

The period is extremely complicated for amateur clubs.

They are at a standstill, the financial difficulties are piling up.

If we want them to remain a social and sporting bond, we have to be even more intransigent.