Attacks on referees, players - Thugs have no place in sports
Last Sunday, soccer referee Daniel Sweeney was attacked after a match in Mullingar. He sustained a broken jaw and fractured eye-socket.
He cannot talk and will take his meals through a straw today. A married father of two in his mid-40s, he was taken to the Midland Regional Hospital, in Tullamore, but his injuries are so serious that he was transferred to St James’s Hospital, in Dublin, yesterday.
Last month, All-Star hurler Ross King suffered horrific facial injuries during a Laois county final.
He was struck with a hurley and left heavily concussed and with serious damage to his face.
Earlier this year, in Donegal, a referee had to take refuge in a besieged dressing room after an U14 game to avoid angry fans.
This led four-time All-Ireland hurling final referee, Brian Gavin, to warn that threats to referees are “rampant” across the country. These assaults come as reports of sideline melees between parents of underage footballers and hurlers are almost commonplace.
What has gone wrong? How have games we should all be proud of become stages for foaming-at-the-mouth violence?
No matter how it’s dressed up, no matter how competitive a game, these attacks are unacceptable.
The relevant sports authorities must impose eyewatering sanctions on clubs that cannot guarantee their players or supporters will behave in a proper, reasonable, and respectful way.
These assaults epitomise the aggression that grievously undermines society.
