Quebec's soccer leaders are condemning an assault, captured on video, on a teenage referee by an grownup who got here onto the sector to bodily confront him.
"A video that has been circulating on social media since final weekend exhibits an underage assistant referee being attacked by an grownup coming down from the stands to confront him," mentioned Soccer Quebec in an announcement Monday.
"We strongly denounce this act of violence which has no place wherever, and even much less on a soccer area."
They did not say the place the assault passed off, however the video was posted to Twitter from a soccer reporting website and was described as going down in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, a suburb west of Montreal.
The video exhibits a boy, reportedly 17 years outdated, in a yellow and black referee uniform, standing on the sidelines of a soccer pitch as an grownup man steps onto the sector, argues with him and shortly throws a punch to his head.
The boy pushes again, making an attempt to defend himself, and so they tussle as folks rush to attempt to pull the person, mentioned to be a guardian of one of many gamers, away.
The boy was refereeing two under-14 groups on the time, mentioned Soccer Quebec, and the assault compelled a untimely finish to the match.
The group's basic supervisor mentioned there's "zero tolerance" for violence in the direction of referees, to not point out ones who're nonetheless teenagers themselves.
"What was vital for us within the first place was to be sure that the younger referee was doing properly within the circumstances and that he was properly surrounded," mentioned basic supervisor Mathieu Chamberland.
"However I unreservedly denounce this aggression and I remind you that there is no such thing as a purpose, actually no purpose, which justifies the assault of an official."
The incident will not essentially finish there. Montreal police mentioned Monday they have not but gotten a criticism over it, however that they are trying into it.
Soccer Quebec is following up, it mentioned, and needs to talk to individuals who witnessed the occasion.
"The state of affairs was reported to the competent authorities," it mentioned. "On our aspect, checks are in progress to activate our mechanisms in issues of self-discipline."
Even the provincial minister answerable for sports activities obtained concerned on Monday. Minister Isabelle Charest, as soon as an Olympic speedskater, wrote on Twitter that it was "unacceptable."
"As an alternative of attacking the referees, we should always as a substitute encourage them," she wrote. "I name on all mother and father, let's all be ambassadors of sportsmanship, violence is unacceptable, interval!"
Soccer Quebec's director of refereeing, Nathanël de Wilde, added that referees are "a part of the sport" and that folks must maintain that in thoughts much more so once they're younger folks "who're studying," saying that younger referees "want the assist and encouragement of the inhabitants."
This can be a growing story that can be up to date.
--With information from CTV's Ian Wooden
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