Being upset about a call in sports happens all the time, but most athletes know better than to ever put their hands on an official.
A footballer in Buenos Aires crossed that line and he ended up being arrested for his actions. A soccer match was suspended and a player was arrested after a brutal attack on a female referee.
Cristian Tirone of the third-division Club Deportivo Garmense in Argentina is behind bars after footage caught him attacking a female ref from behind.
It all began when the official appeared to call a foul on Tirone, He argued the call and had to be held back. As he was being pulled away by teammates, the referee issued a yellow card.
He would soon break free and rush that ref from behind and throw a punch at her head. After being pushed away by the assistant refs, police came on the field and arrested the player.
According to Twitter, the caption on this video reads: “Cowardly attack on a female referee of a soccer player in the reserve match Independencia against Garmense, corresponding to the Tres Arroyos League. The victim is Dalma Cortadi and the perpetrator, Cristian Tirone.”
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The ref told the Olé News (via La Nacion) that she was kept under observation at the hospital for a blow to the head and scrapes and bruises on her arms.
“This situation harms me at work since it makes me unable to work,” Cortadi told Olé, according to Google translate. “Now I must be strong. The blows left me sore … You have to kick him out forever. He should never be in any club. He is a violent person. He must also be in his daily life. I saw it on the video: a normal person does not do what this man did. No person deserves this. We don’t go to the [matches] to be beaten. I hope he pays for what he did.”
The club issued a statement after the attack:
“Given the events that occurred this Sunday during the Third Division football match that was played in the city of Adolfo Gonzales Chaves between Garmense and Independencia, during which a player from Garmense physically attacked the woman who officiated as referee, the Club expresses its energetic repudiation of this action that is at odds with the spirit that is intended to instill with the practice of this sport. The Institution expresses its solidarity with the official who was attacked, expresses its apologies, makes itself available to her and commits to continue working to eradicate violence in all its forms and train athletes with values such as: discipline, camaraderie, commitment and, above all, respect and tolerance. — Board of Directors and Football Sub-Commission.”
