“We’ll meet you at home”: a referee beaten up after a match, the three 15-year-old players are suspended for 20 years

Un arbitre passé à tabac, les trois jeunes joueurs suspendus pendant 20 ans. (illustration) MAXPPP – Mourad ALLILI

Saturday April 6, 2024, at the end of a District 2 match, players from AS Bellecour Perrache violently attacked a referee. The young people, aged 15, received a 20-year suspension.

Careers that end prematurely. On April 6, the clubs from AS Bellecour Perrache to the Pont-de-Chéruy club in Departmental 2, from the U15 category of the Rhône District and Lyon, faced each other. At the end of the match, the match referee was followed and then attacked by several players, reports the site Foot Amateur.

Blows and threats

Violence among young people, particularly at school, has made headlines in recent weeks, but it does not spare the world of sport. As evidenced by this referee, beaten up by three 15-year-olds. He recounts the scene.

"When I left the stadium there were players from Bellecour waiting for me, No. 9 shouted&nbsp ;: 'The referee is there, he is there!'", he explained. "While I was waiting for the tram, I saw a group of young people coming around me, the victim testified. I recognized some players. They surrounded me and kicked me, kneed me in the thighs, and punched me in the ribs", continued the referee.

The victim also received threats: "Don't get hot with us, I'm going to kill you, we'll find you at your place&quot ;.

"Organized gang assault"

The arbitrator’s lawyer expresses the violence of the facts suffered by his client. "We have a victim with 5 days of ITT provisionally because the psychological impact is very present. He didn't invent this lynching on the public highway, he recognized its minor perpetrators, there are videos from the street and from the bakery and we will see what comes out of the criminal investigation< /em>, declared Me Sabah Debbah.