{"id":24867,"date":"2023-12-14T21:18:34","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T21:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina"},"modified":"2023-12-14T21:54:35","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T21:54:35","slug":"cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina","title":{"rendered":"Cancer of attacks on officials will kill the game \u2014 refs\u2019 chief Collina"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eritrea. <\/strong><\/span>Fifa referees chief Pierluigi Collina warns attacks are \u2018a cancer\u2019 which \u2018will kill football\u2019 without action<\/p>\n

An attack on a Turkish referee is symptomatic of a \u201ccancer\u201d affecting the game and \u201cwill kill football\u201d unless action is taken, says global referee chief Pierluigi Collina.<\/p>\n

The chairman of Fifa\u2019s Referees Committee said the attack on Halil Umut Meler was \u201chorrific\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meler was punched by Ankaragucu club president Faruk Koca after his side\u2019s 1-1 draw with Caykur Rizespor.<\/p>\n

Koca has been arrested over the incident and has quit his club post.<\/p>\n

All league football in Turkey has been suspended following the incident in Super Lig, which is Turkey\u2019s top flight.<\/p>\n

Collina added: \u201cEven more horrific is to know that there are thousands of referees around the world who are verbally and physically abused at lower levels of the game across the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are unknown. And the vast majority of them are young referees early in their careers,\u201d the Italian former referee said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA referee cannot be beaten because of a decision they took, even if it\u2019s wrong. His or her car cannot be bombed or set on fire because of a penalty kick.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately this is not an exaggeration, as car bombs and cars being set on fire is something that has happened in some countries, and not so rarely.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a responsibility for all those who love the beautiful game to take action and do something. Before it\u2019s too late before this cancer will kill football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turkish officials have promised severe penalties for those involved but the matter has opened up a debate in Turkey about what Koca himself referred to as a \u201cculture of violence\u201d in the sport.<\/p>\n

The boss of a referees\u2019 charity in England says he receives reports of attacks on referees \u201cevery single week of the season\u201d which are \u201csimilar or worse\u201d than the one suffered by Meler.<\/p>\n

Martin Cassidy, the chief executive of Ref Support UK, believes attitudes towards officials \u201cmust change immediately\u201d or an attack on a top-flight referee in the UK will be \u201cjust around the corner\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI receive reports of similar or worse incidents like this every single week of the season,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only difference here, is that there were more cameras capturing this incident and it was live on national TV,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He cited the case of a 14-year-old referee who called him on Monday asking for support and advice \u201cafter he abandoned a game due to him receiving threats and abuse from an adult.<\/p>\n

\u201cReferees all over the world have, for far too long, been viewed as fair game no matter what age the referee is. Referees are an endangered species due to abuse, threats and assaults,\u201d Cassidy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past weekend, we received reports of child referees being threatened and verbally abused, games being abandoned due to abuse and violence towards match officials at under-13s game. This is the tip of the iceberg as many referees are not aware of the work we do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe desensitisation of ref abuse has been left to fester for far too long and an incident like this, live on TV, is just around the corner in top-flight football in the UK unless we have a huge change in attitude and culture towards match officials at all levels of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Football Association has been looking at ways to reduce abuse of officials and last week told the BBC that a trial of referees wearing bodycams will be extended across grassroots football next year.<\/p>\n

Howard Webb, Chief Refereeing Officer of the English refereeing body PGMOL, said: \u201cThere is no game without match officials. Like all participants, they need to be valued and respected for the good of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scottish former official Hugh Dallas, who is the Turkish Super Lig\u2019s head of referee education, has said football cannot keep putting match officials\u2019 \u201clives at risk\u201d.<\/p>\n

He says action has to be taken \u201cfrom the top, by governments\u201d, and added: \u201cThere has to be legislation and punishments put in place for clubs, players, owners or whoever when they behave in such a manner because it definitely can\u2019t continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Eritrea<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eritrea. Fifa referees chief Pierluigi Collina warns attacks are \u2018a cancer\u2019 which \u2018will kill football\u2019 without action An attack on a Turkish referee is symptomatic of a \u201ccancer\u201d affecting the game and \u201cwill kill football\u201d unless action is taken, says global referee chief Pierluigi Collina. The chairman of Fifa\u2019s Referees Committee said the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":24866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[242,243,233],"class_list":["post-24867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eritrea","tag-eritrea"],"yoast_head":"\nCancer of attacks on officials will kill the game \u2014 refs\u2019 chief Collina - Eritrea<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fifa referees chief Pierluigi Collina warns attacks are \u2018a cancer\u2019 which \u2018will kill football\u2019 without action An attack ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cancer of attacks on officials will kill the game \u2014 refs\u2019 chief Collina\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fifa referees chief Pierluigi Collina warns attacks are \u2018a cancer\u2019 which \u2018will kill football\u2019 without action An attack ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eritrea\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-14T21:18:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-14T21:54:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1702578068.836048.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"722\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Cancer of attacks on officials will kill the game \u2014 refs\u2019 chief Collina\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-14T21:18:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-14T21:54:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina\"},\"wordCount\":721,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1702578068.836048.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eritrea\",\"Eritrea\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina\",\"name\":\"Cancer of attacks on officials will kill the game \u2014 refs\u2019 chief Collina - Eritrea\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1702578068.836048.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-14T21:18:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-14T21:54:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Fifa referees chief Pierluigi Collina warns attacks are \u2018a cancer\u2019 which \u2018will kill football\u2019 without action An attack ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1702578068.836048.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1702578068.836048.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":722,\"caption\":\"Cancer of attacks on officials will kill the game \u2014 refs\u2019 chief Collina\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cancer of attacks on officials will kill the game \u2014 refs\u2019 chief Collina\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/\",\"name\":\"Eritrea\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cancer of attacks on officials will kill the game \u2014 refs\u2019 chief Collina - Eritrea","description":"Fifa referees chief Pierluigi Collina warns attacks are \u2018a cancer\u2019 which \u2018will kill football\u2019 without action An attack ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cancer of attacks on officials will kill the game \u2014 refs\u2019 chief Collina","og_description":"Fifa referees chief Pierluigi Collina warns attacks are \u2018a cancer\u2019 which \u2018will kill football\u2019 without action An attack ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina","og_site_name":"Eritrea","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-12-14T21:18:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-12-14T21:54:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":722,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1702578068.836048.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Cancer of attacks on officials will kill the game \u2014 refs\u2019 chief Collina","datePublished":"2023-12-14T21:18:34+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-14T21:54:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina"},"wordCount":721,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1702578068.836048.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Eritrea","Eritrea"],"articleSection":["all news","sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina","name":"Cancer of attacks on officials will kill the game \u2014 refs\u2019 chief Collina - Eritrea","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1702578068.836048.jpg","datePublished":"2023-12-14T21:18:34+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-14T21:54:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Fifa referees chief Pierluigi Collina warns attacks are \u2018a cancer\u2019 which \u2018will kill football\u2019 without action An attack ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1702578068.836048.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1702578068.836048.jpg","width":1000,"height":722,"caption":"Cancer of attacks on officials will kill the game \u2014 refs\u2019 chief Collina"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/cancer-of-attacks-on-officials-will-kill-the-game-refs-chief-collina#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cancer of attacks on officials will kill the game \u2014 refs\u2019 chief Collina"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/","name":"Eritrea","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}