Referee attacked in post game riot
Sports is usually the domain of James Adderley and his weekly Sports Monday segment. But sometimes activities on the field of play are more closely related to items coming from the police department than the sports desk. Such was the case following the dramatic finish of a semi-pro football match over the weekend. News 5’s Janelle Chanona has the story; cameraman George Tillett captured the video.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
On Sunday, in front of hundreds of die-hard football fans, the Kulture Yabra Football club faced off with Fabro’s Juventus Stars at the M.C.C. Grounds in Belize City. Tension was especially high in the fifth minute of sudden death overtime, as any goal would bring instant victory for the scoring team. Juventus launched a corner kick and as the players from both sides jumped for the ball, what happened in the air would set off a series of unbelievable events.
While the Yabra player claimed he never touched the ball, head referee David Jones saw it differently and ordered a penalty kick. Juventus converted, ending the game in dramatic fashion.
But the real action on the pitch was just getting started. Eager to register his complaint with the referee, Yabra’s coach, Marvin Ottley took to the field.
(Janelle and Ottley looking at a tape of the game)
Marvin Ottley, Coach, Kulture Yabra
“I went to him to ask him what was the purpose of the call. He told me to check the tape…”
Janelle Chanona
(pointing to screen) “This is you here?”
Marvin Ottley
“Yeah.”
Janelle Chanona
“Now you seem a bit upset there.”
Marvin Ottley
“Yeah. So he told me to check the tape and then I will see the reason why he made the call.”
Janelle Chanona
“Who is this man here that seems quite upset as well?”
Marvin Ottley
“That’s one of my players.
Janelle Chanona
“Now you’ve gone off screen, what’s happening?”
Marvin Ottley
“All that’s happening is that my player is arguing why he made the call. Nothing violent is happening.”
Janelle Chanona
“But they are approaching him.”
Marvin Ottley
“Everybody’s just coming towards the referee, trying to get a clarification of the call and that normally happens in any situation where a player or management does not feel satisfied with a decision that a referee made.”
And that’s when all hell broke loose.
By slowing down the tape, we can show you that on one side of the screen, a police officer is desperately fighting to hold on to his baton with a Yabra player, hanging on even after he gets an elbow to the eye. And more disturbingly, on the left, referee David Jones despite being surrounded by police officers, is hit twice in the head.
This morning, we invited several key people that were on the field that day to explain exactly what happened.
By focusing on the left side of the screen, we note that there are several things happening. Referee David Jones is being approached by several people, both fans and players. And as the crowd around him grows, the police encircle him to protect him from the mob.
Head coach for Yabra, Marvin Ottley tries to identify the people on screen.
Janelle Chanona
“Now, who is this person here?” (Points to man in white shirt)
Marvin Ottley
“That’s our owner, that’s Andrew Brown.”
Janelle Chanona
“Do you know this guy?”
Marvin Ottley
“I think those are just football fans…”
Janelle Chanona
“Somebody hits the referee. Who’s that that hits the referee?”
Marvin Ottley
“Well I’m not…If you could back it up just a little bit. It seems to me that the ref gets him by the police officer in the back more than…it seems that the police officer try stop somebody from hitting the ref and in the event he hit the referee.
Janelle Chanona
“I’ll put it real slow, tell me who hits the ref.”
Marvin Ottley
“I really can’t say. I hand gone up, obviously from the back, but now in the clear picture, you just see the officer’s hand come up.
Commissioner of the Belize Premier Football League, Maito Perdomo fails to recognise the man in the white shirt, but positively identifies him as one of the people who strikes the referee.
Janelle Chanona
“You have no idea who that man is?”
Maito Perdomo
“No, I don’t know. I’ve heard that it was somebody else, but from here I can’t recognise who it is. It looks like somebody that was playing though because he is in uniform.”
Janelle Chanona
“And it wasn’t a player…”
Maito Perdomo
“No, he’s not a player.”
Janelle Chanona
“He has been identified to us as somebody from the Yabra club.
Maito Perdomo
“No, I don’t know who that is.”
Janelle Chanona
“To us, that man has been identified as Andrew “Papa” Brown.”
Maito Perdomo
“He’s the sponsor of the Yabra club.”
Janelle Chanona
“Now without knowing who he is, would you say that the man in white hits your ref in the back of his head…”
Maito Perdomo
“Yeah he hits him in the back of the head and then this guy hits again…
Janelle Chanona
“So your referee got clocked twice.”
Maito Perdomo
“Twice.”
Speaking to us by phone this morning, FIFA qualified referee David Jones recounts the experience.
David Jones, Referee
“This is a part of the game…I have been in situations not only here, but internationally as well, where we have fans, people, teams who cannot accept defeat that they behave this kind of way. So it’s a part of the…comes with the territory I should say. If I can identify the people, I will press charges and let the law take its course.”
Speaking of the law, there is also the matter of the skirmish between Yabra’s sub-goal keeper Anthony Bernard and the police officer.
Marvin Ottley
“It’s not that he wanted to take away his baton, he came into the crowd.”
Janelle Chanona
“But that was the end, you wanted to take away his baton so he didn’t do it.”
Marvin Ottley
“Yeah, he went into the crowd hitting somebody immediately, so all this while we were just trying to not allow him to hit somebody again. If you realise, this is still carrying on.”
Janelle Chanona
“This little scuffle here, you’re saying he just doesn’t want the officer to have a baton in the first place.”
Janelle Chanona
“Now that right there that happens, that looks pretty serious to me. He clacks the police officer right in the face. Looking at this now, seeing it on tape, any kind of repercussions is going to happen to that players there?”
Marvin Ottley
“Well, it’s up to the league if they do get a chance to…
Janelle Chanona
“From the club though?”
Marvin Ottley
“Well from the club itself, we normally meet and discuss things like this on Tuesday, so we won’t have a word on that until probably Tuesday or Wednesday.”
Janelle Chanona
“Who’s this guy again?”
Marvin Ottley
“That’s our sub-goal keeper, Anthony Bernard.”
Janelle Chanona
“Now that’s you in there as well.”
Marvin Ottley
“Trying to help my player, trying to tell the officer at the same time…”
Janelle Chanona
“You’re trying to take away the baton too?”
Marvin Ottley
“Trying to tell the officer…you realise that I’m talking to my player, telling him to release the officer’s club and so forth.”
Commissioner Perdomo says while fans can be banned from games, players and other club personnel face fines and sanctions…but even he admits the penalties are minimal.
Maito Perdomo
“He can be fined or suspended too.”
Janelle Chanona
“What’s the max fine we’re talking about here? Is it a significant amount?”
Maito Perdomo
“It’s not…I don’t think it’s going to be a fine, not significant, not a big, big amount of money. However, he could be asked not to attend games or to sit on the bench with his club. If he’s a registered official that can sit on the bench of his club, then we can stop him from doing that and from attending any more games.”
Overall, the Yabra position has been that their reaction was rooted in raw emotion because of inconsistent calls made by the referee during normal playing time.
Alex “Camel” Haylock, manager, Kulture Yabra
“It’s really hard for owners and managers of team watch games go down like that because we work hard, people spend money on their teams, so they expect to get good results from referees and we’re not getting it.
The only thing the club could do is ask the fans never to do that again. But we can’t guarantee it won’t happen but there is no security…you could put a hundred police in the park, that would stop people from coming inside the park, but we don’t make that kind of money to pay the police. It’s hard you know.”
One thing we do know is that league and football federation officials…and perhaps the police, will be studying the videotape closely. Reporting for News 5, I am Janelle Chanona.
