Dutch football linesman dies from severe head injuries after being beaten by teenagers

[malaise]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dutch-disbelief-after-linesman-is-killed-over-a-game-of-football-8382321.html
<snip>

The Netherlands was in shock today after a 41-year-old Sunday youth league linesman died from severe head injuries apparently sustained while being savagely beaten by a group of teenage football players in an apparently motiveless attack.

Richard Nieuwenhuizen collapsed and was taken to hospital hours after being beaten by three players from the Amsterdam youth club Nieuw Sloten on Sunday afternoon. Doctors said they had been unable to save his life and he died on Monday.

Mr Nieuwenhuizen had been officiating in a match against the rival Buitenboys club in the town of Almere and one of his own sons has been playing. He was set upon by three teenagers aged 15 and 16 after the game ended in a 2-2 draw. “It is unbelievable that something like this can happen,” said Marcel Oost, chairman of the Buitenboys club.
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This violence must stop.

[Enrique]

1. probably not motiveless

they just don't know what the motive is yet.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Its the raging violent jock culture

[HereSince1628]

3. Sorry, but I need to go orthogonal...

WHAT does being a linesman in a youth league mean?

[malaise]

5. Assistant referee

Nothing more, nothing less.
I don't know what happened here but Administrators should never allow a parent to officiate in matches where his/her kids are playing.

[HereSince1628]

13. Thanks

[sarisataka]

7. The linesman

or more appropriately Assistant Referee signals when the ball is out of bounds, players are offside and often if he sees a foul that the referee may have missed. They also help judge goals and to traffic control during substitutions.


Very sad situation for all of football.

[HereSince1628]

14. Thanks.

[HappyMe]

8. Actually, those guy's parents

should have built their characters. They failed miserably.

[malaise]

9. Have you ever watched the behavior of some parents at

youth matches?

[sarisataka]

10. When I refereed youth games

I ejected parents more often than players

[HappyMe]

11. My sons played in Little League

for a little while. For the most part the parents were okay. The last year they played, there were a couple of moms that were horrible. Screaming and yelling at the kids about mistakes, bad hits, bad pitches... She made the mistake of yelling at one of mine. A few of us confronted her at the end of the game, along with the umpire. Her husband came to the games after that.

We didn't get nasty, we just told her to keep her insulting criticism of our kids to her-damn-self.

[Blue_Tires]

16. +1000

[Archae]

6. There has to be sports control!

To combat the epidemic of sports-related violence!

[Dr. Strange]

12. I have to admit...

I can't wait to hear what Bob Costas has to say about this. Or what Jason Whitlock has to say that gets repeated by Costas.

[PDJane]

15. It's part of the way that people behave in crowds.

Since there are more crowds with more population, expect to see this kind of senseless behaviour increase.

Le Bon's The Crowd , Mackay's Extraordinary Delusions and the Madness of Crowds and Willful Blindness by Margaret Hefferman, ranging from the oldest to the newest, are excellent reads on the subject. They are worth a read, and they will give you some understanding of the topic.