Monticello Soccer Club - River Eagles

May 10, 2013

Official MNSRC Statement on the Death of Utah Referee Richard Portillo

On May 4, 2013 Utah soccer referee Richard Portillo died of injuries suffered on April 27, 2013 when he was brutally attacked by a 17-year old soccer player during an unaffiliated youth match.

This was an incident that went above and beyond referee abuse; this was referee assault. The MNSRC- and the entire sport of soccer, for that matter- has no tolerance for either. Situations escalating to this level of violence are extremely rare, but have been occurring with more and more frequency in all sports at all levels.

In December, 2012, a Dutch soccer official was beaten to death after a match by several members of one of the U16 teams he had just finished officiating.

On May 9, five days after Mr. Portillo succumbed to his injuries, the SRC received a Referee Abuse report from a 16 year-old referee in a Twin Cities U14 girls game, in which the coach repeatedly dissented calls, then told her after the match, "You do your job and I'll do mine."

On May 10, the Major League Soccer Disciplinary Committee fined Portland Timbers coach Caleb Porter and Philadelphia Union coach John Hackworth both for making derogatory comments about the referees in their most recent matches. They were fined for referee abuse.

Referee abuse occurs at all levels of our sport. The question is not whether the referee makes mistakes (we all do), but rather whether we as a sport can begin to separate the concept of disagreement from that of disrespect.

In the case of the MLS fines, both coaches had arguably legitimate gripes about decisions that went against their teams, but their willingness to publicly denigrate the match officials, just days after a match official was killed in a case of referee disrespect that was taken to the extreme, is appalling. The same can be said of the U14 girls coach who created an atmosphere of disrespect towards 16 year-old referee assigned to work his team's match. Until we all learn to connect the dots and work to eliminate the abuse of match officials at all levels of the game, sadly, these sorts of incidents may continue to occur. We are all culpable.

The MNSRC would like to remind all Minnesota soccer officials to report ANY type of referee abuse, no matter how small or meaningless it seems. We must make sure governing bodies are aware of these incidents so we can avoid something as tragic as what happened in Utah.

No matter where or when this happens, these events hurt our referee family and our sport. Richard Portillo's family is in our thoughts and prayers this season.