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On Sunday, December 2012, 1, Richard Nieuwenhuizen left home to watch his son's match. He decided to act as linesman for this match because it was probably not available as you often see in amateur football. It would be his very last game because a number of boys from Nieuw Sloten B17.30 found it necessary to kick him because they felt disadvantaged during the game. Richard Nieuwenhuizen collapsed a few hours later and died on Monday afternoon at XNUMX pm in the Flevoziekenhuis.
The entire football world is shocked. Everyone has an opinion about it and everyone has a solution for it. Some have been tried before and others seem very far-fetched. Banning aggressive players from football was a common 'solution'. This seems to me to be merely a symptomatic treatment and not a structural solution. Even the abolition of offside was argued for, after all, this was a great source of frustration and very difficult to enforce. Also, many people immediately started talking about minutes of silence, mourning bands and the shutdown of competitions at all levels.
All these things are simply not going to solve anything. Anyone who has walked around in amateur football for a while knows one or more of those teams. The teams that structurally cause problems through aggressive behavior and mean / unsportsmanlike play. In the event of an incident, such a team is punished by the KNVB and the following year you play against more or less the same team. Examples of incidents are endless. From the little things like kicking the ball or putting it in the air like the hand on a throw-in (while even Stevie Wonder could see you were the last one to hit the ball) to big things like aggressively approaching a referee - or linesman.
I can name dozens of examples of retarded behavior because I am an amateur referee myself and experience things like this every week. For example, I have had several times that a defender comes running towards me over 70 meters to tell me that it was not offside. Or a ball is just nicely roasted in a meadow after the whistle has been blown and a volunteer can search for another fifteen minutes. These are the least bad things, but the little things that start it.
Even worse, of course, is the aggressive treatment of people in the field. For example, nowadays it seems normal to get a redress from the referee if you don't agree with it. With one or more people running like a moron towards the referee, gesturing wildly that it's all so unfair. Or of course asking for cards because you thought something was wrong. In the history of football, has there ever been one referee who reversed his decision by these people?
What is needed in football is a cultural shift. All these examples are only considered normal in football because children also see their parents screaming the most terrible things on the sidelines. They also see their trainer scold the referee when he whistles for offside. And after the game it is also explained in the locker room that the referee is an asshole. But everything is wrong not only in amateur football, in professional football we also see a Suarez fooling the referee with fake injuries and schwalbes. We see Kevin Strootman aggressively and wildly gesturing towards the referee and asking for cards. This is well spoken of under the guise of a 'winner's mentality'. This is not a winning mentality this is just retarded. Here lies the crux of the problem.
The KNVB or perhaps even FIFA should ensure that this is no longer considered normal. Morbid behavior must be corrected from above. Football is due for a zero-tolerance policy regarding arbitration. Anyone with a big mouth against the border or referee immediately yellow. This will undoubtedly lead to a legion of abandoned games as there are only seven men left on the field but over time everyone will learn. From this one can start building respect for the race management, your opponent and yourself.
Just like in hockey, a decision of the referee must be taken for notice and everyone must then proceed to the order of the day. You have to propagate the word respect and not just be on a badge on your football shirt.
I would like to wish the family and friends of Richard Nieuwenhuizen a lot of strength with this loss.
In this episode of Bureau Sport (Tuesday 8 January 2013) the referee and the refereeing are discussed. The entire broadcast is dominated by everything related to this and of course current events.
Of course, the tragic incident of referee Richard Nieuwenhuizen is discussed and also the action with referee Serdar Gözübüyük's respect band. Furthermore, the presenters themselves will flag a match of referee Dick Jol and there will be an interview with Surinamese referee Enrico Wijngarde.
Watch the episode here:
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