SportBoy333
26 Feb 2008, 11:11 AM
PARIS (AFP) - Footballers who attack referees should be banned for life, French Minister for Sport Bernard Laporte said Tuesday in reaction to a violent incident at a game in French Guiana on the weekend.
The French Guiana football league on Monday provisionally suspended five players and two coaches from Sporting Club de Kourou (SCK) after an attack on a referee during a game against US Macouria on Saturday.
Former national rugby union coach Laporte, in a statement released by his office, "welcomes the disciplinary measures adopted" in French Guiana, a French overseas department located on the northern coast of South America.
"We must not hesitate to suspend trouble-makers for life because those who attack a referee, the keystone for respect of the rules and one's opponent which make up the values of sport, are worth nothing on a pitch," he said.
During the SCK-US Macouria match, referee Bernard Demba whistled for a penalty for the visiting team.
That led to a SCK player spitting at Demba and then punching him, a fellow player joining in the assault and third team-mate kicking the referee in the back.
It was the fourth time a referee has been attacked in French Guiana in little more than a month.
The French Guiana football league ruled that SCK's senior team will not be able to play any home matches until a final disciplinary decision is taken on the referee's assailants.
http://www.soccerway.com/news/2008/February/26/french-sports-minister-wants-life-bans-for-players-who-attack-refs/
The French Guiana football league on Monday provisionally suspended five players and two coaches from Sporting Club de Kourou (SCK) after an attack on a referee during a game against US Macouria on Saturday.
Former national rugby union coach Laporte, in a statement released by his office, "welcomes the disciplinary measures adopted" in French Guiana, a French overseas department located on the northern coast of South America.
"We must not hesitate to suspend trouble-makers for life because those who attack a referee, the keystone for respect of the rules and one's opponent which make up the values of sport, are worth nothing on a pitch," he said.
During the SCK-US Macouria match, referee Bernard Demba whistled for a penalty for the visiting team.
That led to a SCK player spitting at Demba and then punching him, a fellow player joining in the assault and third team-mate kicking the referee in the back.
It was the fourth time a referee has been attacked in French Guiana in little more than a month.
The French Guiana football league ruled that SCK's senior team will not be able to play any home matches until a final disciplinary decision is taken on the referee's assailants.
http://www.soccerway.com/news/2008/February/26/french-sports-minister-wants-life-bans-for-players-who-attack-refs/