Referees make bad calls from time to time, but not even the worst blown call can excuse what happened on a soccer field in Chile.
A referee and his assistant were attacked by players and fans during a lower-level game in the South American country. The beating left the two men badly injured.
One of the story’s worst aspects is the scope of the assailants. Their ranks include men, women, players and fans.
There’s no word on the referees’ condition, but we know it could have been much worse if players from one of the teams hadn’t protected them.
Soccer brings peoples’ passions to the surface and, in cases like this, they often boil over. The story of Richard Nieuwenhuizen, the  late Dutch referee’s assistant, shows that these explosions can have tragic consequences. The Chilean example only reinforces that message.
See the attack in the video below.
warning: the video contains graphic scenes
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