Video: Another assault on refOh no. Not again. Not in San Antonio.
That will be the reaction of many who watch the above video of a St. Anthony (San Antonio) football player shoving a referee on Saturday following an altercation on the field against Hyde Park (Austin, Texas).
The player had been flagged for his part in a brief skirmish between players on the field. The player then pushed the referee around the shoulders and his St. Anthony teammates immediately restrained him.
He was ejected from the game.
An announcer broadcasting the game on
kmacsports.com said immediately on air: "After everything that's gone on in the news and all over, No. 80 just hit the referee and he is going to be escorted out of here right now. Holy Toledo, folks."
The announcer's reference, of course, was to
the incident that went global in San Antonio on Sept. 4, when two Jon Jay (San Antonio) players targeted, tackled and speared an umpire on the field. The video of that vicious attack was seen more than 9 million times on YouTube, spurred national discussion and state investigation on possible sanctions and/or actions.
The targeted referee in that case is considering pursuing criminal charges.
Clearly, Saturday's shoving incident pales in comparison to the Jon Jay attack, but of course laying hands on a referee in any way is always disturbing. The timing and location of this shove is particularly unfortunate.
H.G. Bissinger, author of famed "Friday Night Lights," told the
New York Times in a Saturday story about the John Jay incident: "I think it's part and parcel of the intensity, the fanaticism and the craziness of what sports has become in this country. … Is it part of something larger? Of course it is. It's all about winning, it's all about losing, it's all about anger, it's all about feeling cheated, and in the case of John Jay, now it's about retribution, now it's about revenge."
