Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
There have been many acts of rage in the sports world, but this one definitely tops them all. In an extreme act of poor judgement, rage and revenge, a 20-year-old referee in Brazil was beheaded and ripped limb-from-limb following a soccer match.
Reports say the referee, Otavio Jordao da Silva, made a call that 30-year-old amateur player Josenir dos Santos Abreu disagreed with heavily. The player then assaulted the referee, which apparently forced the young ref to pull out a knife he was carrying on him and stab the player. Abreu died en route to the hospital due to complications of the wounds.
Following this violent act, Abreu’s family and friends invaded the field, quartering and beheading the referee, placing his head on a pole in the center of the field when they were done. So far, only one person has been arrested and the others are still on the loose.
What this torturous act brings to attention is the stupidity and unmoral acts that people are capable of. Society has become accustomed to hearing stories like this one and thinking nothing other than ‘wow, that’s too bad’. In other countries this may be the norm for all we know, but it shouldn’t be.
Players often disagree with referees on the field, but they don’t take it one step further to assaulting the referee — we’ve all seen videos of these types of things before. In this case, the referee acted without thinking — something that has become a staple of everyday society.
Kill a guy because he disagrees with you. Instead of being the bigger person and walking away from this without making things worse, the family decided it was okay to publicly execute the 20-year-old on the field and rip limps off, placing his head on a stake. What about this seems normal to anyone?
These people should be ashamed and so should those who did nothing about it.
Society has gone awry and acts like these will keep happening until someone does something about it. This was over a soccer game people; a soccer game.
Connor Muldowney is a columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Connormuldowney, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
