An Ohio high school soccer referee was knocked to the ground by a teammate of a player he had just red-carded, according to a TMZ report shared on Reddit's r/referees. The post, titled "Stay Safe Out There," is a blunt reminder that a card can turn into a physical confrontation in seconds.
What we know, per the report:
- The incident happened at an Ohio high school soccer game.
- The referee had just issued a red card to a player.
- A teammate of that player then knocked the official down.
- TMZ covered the incident, and a Reddit user shared the report on r/referees.
- The poster used it as a call for officials to stay alert, noting that violence against refs can happen at any moment.
The reported sequence is simple: the card comes out, a teammate reacts, and the ref ends up on the ground. Nobody involved needed a long runway for it to happen.
That is the point of the Reddit post. Officials spend most of a match watching for fouls, offside, and handballs. The poster's message is that they also need to keep track of who is near them, especially right after a high-stakes call like a send-off.
Ejections are among the most emotionally charged moments in any game. Everyone on the field and on the sideline has an opinion about them, and the referee is the one person standing in the middle of it all.
The r/referees community regularly trades stories like this one as a way to look out for each other. This week's lesson is to know where your exits are before you pull the red card out of your pocket.
Source: Reddit: r/referees