https://au.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer-dirty-tackle/american-soccer-ref-dies-after-being-punched-during-a-match-200716885.html An amateur soccer referee who was punched in the head while refereeing an adult-league soccer match on Sunday has died. John Bieniewicz was refereeing an amateur match at a park in the Detroit suburbs when he was punched in the head by a player he'd attempted to eject from the match. Following the blow, Bieniewicz was left unconscious and not breathing on the field. He was taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital in critical condition. He passed away on Tuesday. The 44-year-old Bieniewicz was a licensed referee who worked as a dialysis technician at Mott Children’s Hospital and lived with his wife and two sons in the Detroit suburb of Westland. Bieniewicz, a 6-foot-5 high school athlete who lettered in basketball and football, gravitated towards soccer in his adult life and had spent two decades earning a reputation as a reliable and fair referee. On a website dedicated to his memory, Bieniewicz was described as “a man who lived life to the fullest.” “He had a passion for his family, a passion for the kids at Mott Children’s Hospital, and a passion for soccer. John died doing what he loved: Officiating a soccer game.” Local police have charged the player who punched Bieniewicz, 36-year-old Baseel Abdul-Amir Saad of Dearborn, Michigan, with assault and intent to do great bodily harm. Investigators expect the charges against Saad to be modified following Mr. Bieniewicz’s death. Saad left Mies Park where the incident occurred before police arrived, waving his middle finger at spectators as he walked off. However he turned himself in Monday. His bond was set at $500,000 with a probable cause hearing scheduled for July 10. Brian Berry, a lawyer for the accused, maintained that Saad was not guilty and was cooperating with police. This incident follows closely on a similar event that occurred in Utah last year when another amateur referee was killed by a teenage soccer player. “Never in my life did I think it would happen here,” said Joseph Cosenza a player in the game in which Bieniewicz was struck, speaking to Detroit’s Fox 2 News. “All of that over a meaningless, know-nothing, over-30 men’s soccer league that, honestly, it’s not worth it.” Violence against amateur soccer referees is unfortunately a worldwide phenomenon. Last year in Brazil, spectators killed, dismembered and decapitated a 20-year-old amateur ref after he stabbed a player. In 2012, a volunteer linesman in a match outside Amsterdam was beaten to death. In that case, six teenage players and the adult father of one of the boys were convicted of manslaughter. ..

look at the name of that player that hit him reminds me of playing in the granville pl against auburn and parra with games getting abandoned after referees getting hit and spectators invading the pitch

Sometimes it takes stories like that to realise how lucky we have a good stable league.

typical Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > look at the name of that player that hit him > > reminds me of playing in the granville pl against > auburn and parra with games getting abandoned > after referees getting hit and spectators invading > the pitch Yeah - look at the suburb.. Dearborn Michigan enuff said.

the quality of service??? ur kidding right?

GHFA players are very lucky to have such a good refereeing set up. Not only do nearly all the games get referees appointed every week but linesman are also provided. Compare this to the situation in the Manly Warringah & Ku-ring-gai associations where all of the adult comps below the top two have to provide their own referees. Each team has to have two registered qualified referees nominated as part of their squad. They are paid as per a normal referee and wear a uniform but are they mostly shitty disinterested player referees. They referee the game before or after at 1pm/3pm. Linesman are rarely allocated. GHFA Referees Ass should be very proud of the quality and quantity of the service they provide.

there is a whole lot to be said about the quality of referees when tom forrest has been one of the best referees this season

I swear the guy we had last weekend was brain dead. I don't know where they keep finding these morons but the majority of GHFA refs are hopeless. The thing preventing situations like the one described above is not the quality of our refs. It's the decency and civility of our players and spectators, who generally refrain from physically assaulting people. GHFRA should stop whinging about and bit of swearing here and there. They've got it easy compared to many of their colleagues around the world.

I don't see how the man's name has anything to do with this. Assaults happen all the time by people of all backgrounds all over the world. All this shows is that you have a racist tendency against people of Middle Eastern backgrounds. It's a sad story, leave it that. Don't bring racism into it.

go play in the graville pl mate

Joke Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I swear the guy we had last weekend was brain > dead. I don't know where they keep finding these > morons but the majority of GHFA refs are hopeless. > The thing preventing situations like the one > described above is not the quality of our refs. > It's the decency and civility of our players and > spectators, who generally refrain from physically > assaulting people. GHFRA should stop whinging > about and bit of swearing here and there. They've > got it easy compared to many of their colleagues > around the world. One thing that consistently irks me abt these 'quality' refs are the constant idioscyncracies & pedantic adjucation on minor things such as colour of wrist band or head band. what the fck does it matter what colour it is???? does it alter the outcome? for fck sake -its just a park game! Or the constant whistle on minor foot works on throw ins. how sometimes the ref can get it so wrong and pedantic on something like throw ins is incredible. Or some refs would enter the shed prior to the game to tell people what his 'style' is.. sometimes i wish we could demote these clowns to the other infamous districts mentioned above.

Didn't take long for a thread lamenting a ref assault to turn into another 'all our refs are crap' thread. GHFA's being very vocal this year on stamping out ref abuse but still it continues every week. No wonder it's mostly grumpy old guys with thick skin doing our games. Player's don't have perfect games, players have individual 'Styles', why do you expect refs to be different?

>> Player's don't have perfect games, players have individual 'Styles', why do you expect refs to be different? BIG difference is - refs are offering a service. a paid service. REF dictates the game. Players don't. On top of that players wear all the decisions and pay to play. Big difference.

Good players and player combinations can dictate games. Agree we are lucky to play in a stable league where most players turn up to enjoy their football at a competitive level without acting like we're playing for sheep stations. The refs get paid a token amount to cover costs. I'm sure most young good refs once they leave uni and get a full time job realise how little they are paid and leave ref'g just as they are about ready to do PL games. If they are only given stick every third week at the end of the year that is what they remember and pull the pin.

How can't player dictate a game... I've seen zidane scholes ineista and from different sports Jordan warne johns to name a few... Not in anyway do I condone that what happened to that referee... But I find our referees don't have a lot of game sense And think that they just seem to get a little whistle happy... U would find that if they were a little more lenient and just let the game flow and tried to make it a fast paced game I think everyone would have a more enjoyable weekend

Its amazing that this has turned into a ref bashing again. I bet the ref bashers are the ones that cry out like babies when a decision wont go their way or they get a little clip on the ankles. They are so perfect they never make a mistake in the way they play. Why don't you get off your ass and become a referee and be the perfect ref everyone wants. Sorry that's below you I'm sure.