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how is it pathetic? Law enforcement isn't a job for Those who can't control their tempers. Not everybody is fit to be a police officer and one who assaults somebody in a position of authority should never be trusted with a badge or A position of authority not when you have displayed an inability to respect those in authority above you.
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I'm not a lawyer either but I'm there wth you on that. On the flip side, it appears this tactic could come back to bite the players as the official would turn around and file a defamation suit for slander. Hollywood seems to know the law pretty well so he may be ale to answer thatComment
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I can say that one does not have to be a Lawyer to know that adults need to be careful here. Interestingly in the hearing that I viewed it was left to the school to continue the investigation.Comment
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If anyone wants to take the ref to court based off of hearsay, they might want to hold off on that. This ref is not happy and is lawyering up himself. His comments below....
“I like to keep my officiating quiet; unfortunately this will be big news,” Watts said in the article.
“Libel and slander have already been committed against me," Watts added. "I will be contacting the appropriate people soon and any statement from me will come at a later date.”
.....http://www.ksat.com/news/referee-hit...ers-speaks-out
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WayneElliott.jpg
PHOTO: Aubrey Oswalt/TexasHSFootball.com - Referee in photo Wayne Elliott from game earlier in the season
By Jimmy Isbell on September 7, 2015
SAN ANTONIO — On Friday evening, a competitive high school football game between San Antonio John Jay and Marble Falls was waning into the fourth quarter when a specific play made the game more than just a contest between two non-district opponents, but an “incident [that] is extremely disturbing, not the sportsmanlike behavior we teach students at Northside ISD,” NISD spokesman Pascual Gonzalez told KENS5-TV (San Antonio,TX.) on Sunday.
As the game pressed on, two Jay players were ejected earlier in the contest due to a few unsportsmanlike penalties the referee crew’s head umpire felt was so unnecessary that he ejected them.
One of the players was star quarterback Moses Reynolds, who also dabs into wide receiver when needed. The other player has yet to be identified.
The game was neck-and-neck in the fourth quarter, when it appears in the video below that Jay’s free safety, No. 12, seemed to intentionally attack the referee crew’s head umpire from behind. As soon as No. 12 knocked him down, No. 81— strong safety opposite of No. 12 — barreled into the referee as he laid there on the turf.
As soon as the play ended, and the referee gathered himself, he ejected No. 12, but ejected No. 7, who had not been involved in the hits on the referee, but came over to the referee after the play. No. 81, who was the second player to hit the referee remained in the game.
The umpire asked TexasHSFootball.com not to release his name, but according to the Austin American-Statesman his name is Robert Watts. Watts is a 14-year veteran who spoke with Ronald Oswalt of TexasHSFootball.com and said, “I like to keep my officiating quiet; unfortunately this will be big news.”
He then went on to say, “Libel and slander have already been committed against me. I will be contacting the appropriate people soon and any statement from me will come at a later date.”
The NISD is complying with the University Interscholastic League -- the governing body of all athletic contests for public schools -- to get to the bottom of the story. They need all the facts, witnesses and their accounts of the events that took place during the ill play.
A number of questions were asked on social media, but the most notable was the following: Did Jay’s head coach have anything to do with the hits on the referee, or was it the high emotions of the two players that motivated them to act in the way they did?
Marble Falls coach Matt Green said after his team won the contest 15-9, that Jay coach Gary Gutierrez apologized on behalf of the players. Green also said that no coach would ask that his players would intentionally target a referee.
Upon hearing the tragic news, the executive secretary of the Austin Officials Association, Wayne Elliott, seemed outraged at what the two players had done to one of its loyal officials.
“The first thing that we want is that those two kids never play football again,” Elliot said to the Associated Press.
As of right now, the two players have been suspended from the team, pending an investigation from Northside ISD officials and the UIL.
“We are cooperating fully with the University Interscholastic League with this investigation,” Gonzalez, said.
The NISD Athletic Director Steve Laing believes his staff needs to do its best to cooperate with the UIL, but also receive all accounts from eyewitnesses, fellow players, the other members of the referee crew and anyone else that has additional information before making a decision.
"We have to be very careful with what we say until we get the entire story," Laing told, WFAA-TV. "It's really unfortunate. We're still getting stories on different things. That's whey we've got to make sure to get the entire story before we basically share it with everybody, because we don't want anything out there to be assumed. We want to be very clear on exactly what happened."
The UIL released a statement via its Twitter account Sunday regarding the incident:
Now this isn't the first time a high school player knocked down a referee. In 2008, the Euless Trinity Trojans were playing the Allen Eagles in a Class 5A playoff game. After Allen busted a big run downfield, a Trinity player argued to the umpire that he was being held. The referee did not respond to the Trojan. Then this happened.
As of now, our staff doesn't know what happened to the Trinity player, what his consequences during the game were, if he was kicked off the team or not, or if he was suspended from the school.
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UIL1-e1441835688494.jpg By Tyler Agnew on September 9, 2015
Round Rock, Texas – Executive board members of the University Interscholastic League held an emergency meeting Wednesday morning to hear reports surrounding an incident in which two football players blindsided Robert Watts, a veteran referee.
“It is the most egregious event that I’ve ever witnessed in my forty years in public education,” UIL Executive Director Charles Breithaupt said of the incident that happened last Friday as Jay High faced Marble Falls on the road.
League officials commended Northside ISD for placing the involved athletes on indefinite suspension from school and did not issue any additional sanctions.
District officials and the executive director of the Texas Association of Sports Officials provided the committee with information about events precipitating the attack, including allegations that Watts flung racial slurs toward the Jay High athletes.
“We feel like we owe it to the young men who alleged racial comments were made to file a complaint such that TASO has the information to conduct their own independent investigation,” NISD Superintendent Brian T. Woods said.
TASO Executive Director Michael Fitch said he has yet to receive an official complaint.
Alan Goldberger, an attorney for Watts, told ESPN that the referee is “ … not a happy camper about being falsely accused."
Jay High’s defensive backs coach Mack Breed, a 2004 Jay graduate, has been placed on administrative leave as part of NISD protocol. He is alleged to have said, “This guy needs to pay for cheating us,” before the occurrence.
The UIL made it clear the players’ actions are not justifiable under any circumstances.
Board member James Colbert, Jr. Superintendent of Harris County Education, said that athletes “reflect the leadership of their (coaches).”
However, Woods affirmed Jay Head Coach Gary Gutierrez is not in danger of losing his job.
But the committee questioned the type of environment Jay High administrators and coaches have created within the school's athletic programs and will continue to examine the Mustang football team at multiple levels.
Breithaupt said referees reported that the behavior coming from Jay’s sidelines and the players in the game might indicate a larger issue.
“But we need more than just one game’s report to make that determination,” he said.
The UIL and TASO are also looking into how officials handled the game.
Fitch noted it is the job of officiating crews to manage games and to ensure the well-being of all participants. He has asked each umpire of the Jay versus Marble Falls contest to provide him a synopsis of what they witnessed from coaches, players and fellow officials.
The hearing brought up a new piece to the puzzle: Watts was a fill-in for the crew overseeing that particular contest.
Fill-ins are common due to a shortage of referees, but the fact Watts was not a regular member of that particular crew seemed far from a moot point.
Many UIL officials asked, “Why were the referees unable to diffuse a game heading toward destruction?”
Board member Gil Garza, athletic director for Dallas schools, said the game displayed massive amounts of penalty yardage and several ejections and was a “time bomb” waiting to go off.
Goldberger has called the attack on Watts a premeditated crime. The two athletes may face criminal charges of assaulting a school official.
The Marble Falls Police Department conducted preliminary interviews, including with Watts, and will hold a press conference Thursday.
For more than 9 million viewers of a YouTube video documenting the attack, this disheartening incidence may have been their first impression of Texas high school football.
It is an occurrence “that is no way indicative of what high school football is like in the state of Texas,” UIL Deputy Director Jamey Harrison said.
John Jay High School will continue its season this Friday with a matchup against Del Rio.
The UIL plans to hold another meeting on these issues later this month.
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National Association of Sports Officials Proclaims Defense of Targeted Referee
In Marble Falls, Texas this past weekend, an officiating nightmare took place. It took place and nobody was sleeping. Fortunately someone was videotaping the game. Without any room for equivocation, that video shows two players from John Jay High School in San Antonio purposely and with malice physically assaulted back judge, Robert Watts during the final moments of the game. He was viscously and without warning knocked to the ground by a Jay player and then, while prostrate on the turf, was helmet-speared by a fellow Jay teammate.
Robert is a long-time member of the National Association of Sports Officials. That fact energizes us to take a stand on his behalf. But, make no mistake, had Robert not been a member of NASO, we would be taking to the ramparts in his defense and in that of all men, women and young people who officiate our games.
What occurred that night on that field is unacceptable and we in the officiating community will not accept it. NASO has taken steps to ensure that Robert is provided the full benefits of NASO insurance, legal and consultation services. Whatever course of action he intends to take in order to have his assault properly redressed, NASO will stand in support of him.
NASO president, Barry Mano, has been a frequent and often quoted media interview about this horror. He has presented NASO’s firm belief, backed unanimously by the NASO board of directors, that commensurate consequences must result from this act, wherever they may lead. Certainly calling to account the two players will be just a starting point. An investigation by the proper authorities and jurisdictions is underway now. The facts and the broader truths will be of interest to all of us in the officiating world.
NASO works in partnership with the Texas Association of Sports Officials (TASO) and the University Interscholastic League (UIL) in a number of officiating programs. The three organizations embrace the belief that assaultive behavior against sports officials will not be tolerated nor accepted at any level.
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Thanks Eagle82 for posting that. Like I said anyone thinking of going after that ref might want to step back.Comment
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As if their actions during the game didn't get them into enough trouble, now these kids are digging a deeper hole by claiming the ref made racial slurs.
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"The Referee Seen in that Video was filling in for Someone Else"
UIL Investigating Football Scandal
By Rachel Glaser - Published 09/09 2015 11:13PM
New allegations are surfacing on what may have caused two Texas high school football players to intentionally strike a referee.
On Wednesday, the governing body that oversees high school sports in Texas, the UIL, held an emergency meeting to investigate why the official was hit on the field Friday night.
One of the committee members called that football game a ticking time bomb. All sides of the table seem to agree that there are many layers to the story. One fact that came out of the hearing is that the referee seen in that video was filling in for someone else.
Players threw punches and some of them got thrown out of the game. That was all before the referee was hit from behind by two players in the final seconds of the game.
"It’s the most egregious event that I ever witnessed in my 40 years of public education. This is the first that I’ve seen of this magnitude. This was intentional, this was on purpose," Charles Breithaupt, UIL Executive Director, said.
Breithaupt says he doesn't know why two players took down this referee, but he says the why doesn't matter.
"We all saw what took place," Breithaupt said.
Now the UIL committee wants to know how this game got so out of control.
"We do need coaches help with that, that’s not all our job," Michael Finch, Texas Association of Sports Officials (TASO) Executive Director, said.
Officials with the Northside Independent School District say a John Jay player did tell one of the assistant coaches that one of the referees used a racial slur.
Finch says he doesn't know what happened, but that it's possible.
"It’s certainly possible and a lot of time you know communication is a two-way street so how a comment is intended in not often how it is received," Finch said.
District officials say one of the coaches complained to one of the game officiates but the game continued.
According to one player, it was a coach's idea to suggest retaliation against the referee.
No criminal charges have been filed at this point, but police are still investigating. The school is doing a disciplinary hearing to determine a punishment for the students while also looking to file a complaint against the referee for allegedly making racial slurs during the game.Comment
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Conduct of Coaches Questioned in Texas Referee Incident
By JIM VERTUNO
Associated Press
8762932_G.jpg ROUND ROCK, Texas (AP) - The governing body for Texas high school sports questioned Wednesday whether the coaches of two football players accused of intentionally ramming a referee should have done more to calm emotions in a tense game.
The University Interscholastic League's executive committee heard from local officials on their investigation into the incident involving San Antonio Jay High School. The organization is investigating several allegations, including that the hit was prompted by something an assistant coach said and was preceded by racial slurs from the targeted umpire.
The incident was caught on video and sparked national attention and reaction. Marble Falls beat Jay in Friday's game, 15-9.
Two Jay High School players, who have not been identified, and assistant coach Mack Breed have been suspended by the Northside Independent School District pending the investigation.
"This has been an embarrassment for the school, the UIL and the state of Texas," said committee member James Colbert of Houston.
Dallas committee member Gil Garza, who used to work in San Antonio schools, noted reported tensions in the game between Jay and Marble Falls high schools, including punches thrown, late hits and ejections before the Jay players rammed umpire Robert Watts.
"The only thing our kids really have is our coaches. That's where the leadership starts," Garza told Northside officials, calling the out-of-control atmosphere "a time bomb waiting to happen. And it did."
Garza also questioned whether the game officials could have done more to control the game.
Officials with Northside and the Texas Association of Sports Officials said they are still investigating the incident.
Brian Woods, Northside schools superintendent, said he wasn't aware of previous concerns about a culture of unsportsmanlike conduct at Jay.
"We don't have any reason to believe the actions of those two young men are representative of that program or the student body of that school," Woods said.
Woods said concerns about sportsmanship could be "applied both ways." Marble Falls school officials attended the meeting but declined an offer to testify.
The Jay High School players, coaches and Watts did not attend the meeting. Watts' attorney, Alan Goldberger of New Jersey, has denied Watts made racial remarks. Watts has been a game official for 14 years and was recently nominated for president of the Austin chapter of the Texas Association of Sports Officials.
Watts was not working with his regular crew at the game and was a fill-in for another official who couldn't make it, said Michael Fitch, executive director of the officials association. Fitch said he's still waiting for a complete report on the game from the crew.
The UIL said any state disciplinary action against the players or school won't come before its next meeting Sept. 23.
The case also has prompted a criminal investigation in Marble Falls, where the game was played about 90 miles north of San Antonio.
Video from the game showed the referee watching a play, and his head snapping back when he is leveled from behind and another player then dove on top of him. Northside school district officials have said that during the game, the suspended players "were feeling lots of frustration by what they perceived to be missed or wrong calls by the refs." The players also alleged the referee directed racial slurs at them.
The students allege that assistant coach Breed, 29, said "that guy needs to pay for cheating us" or words to that effect, according to the district
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I guess I heard wrong. I thought they offered to testify but were told that was not required at this time.Marble Falls school officials attended the meeting but declined an offer to testify.
I could quote everything from this group. What does that have to do with anything? They are trying to spin doubt in every direction. I am now questioning the district itself. Am I reading this wrong? They are sounding a bit like HS kids to me.Northside school district officials have said that during the game, the suspended players "were feeling lots of frustration by what they perceived to be missed or wrong calls by the refs."
Last edited by Hollywood; 09-10-2015, 09:03 PM.Comment
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Not sure how they could take these kids for their word.
So their acts of violence is justified by their allegations of racial slurs?
Of all the games this ref has officiated, is there a history of him using racial slurs? If so, one would think he wouldn't have been on the field that Friday night. Who knows, I may be wrong but I would be shocked if any official used racial slurs while officiating a game.
I said earlier, the coaches should be held accountable for the players actions as well as they've allowed these kids to act in such a hostile manner, not only last Friday evening, but probably for quite some time now.Comment
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This ref can go 14 years of officiating without any history of using racial slurs, get assaulted on the field by two high school kids and now all of a sudden it is claimed he used racial slurs after he was blindsided. ...hmmm yea ok.Comment
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Bone headed decisions are made everyday that are hard life lessons and I can live with the fact these kids messed up and acted in frustration and assaulted the ref as long as they know it was wrong and apologized and then let all the legal stuff play out.....but I'm more bothered by the deflecting of the action by throwing out the racial slur card. That seems to be how society reacts to everything now. If you believe everyone is created equal and you treat everyone with respect, then the next day your slandered by two kids and their friends, that would drive me crazy.Comment
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Another week, another Texas HS Football Ref struck by a Player
A Texas high school player shoved an official during a loss Saturday in the second such incident in the San Antonio area in just over a week.
The player, St. Anthony senior Zeke Cardenas, was quickly restrained by teammates and ejected after he plowed into an official during the third quarter og a home game against Hyde Park High from Austin, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
A week earlier, two John Jay players tackled and speared an official late in a game at Marble Falls. Video of the incident spread quickly and interest in the story intensified after the players reportedly made allegations of inflammatory comments being directed at them.
On Saturday's play, Cardenas fielded a low snap, retrieved the ball behind him and was sacked. As Cardenas came to his feet, video appears to show the quarterback shoving an opponent to draw a penalty flag.
Cardenas originally walked away before an official approached him. As the two came closer, the official threw another flag before Cardenas shoved him.
St. Anthony players then restrained Cardenas.
Hyde Park went on to win 21-0.
St. Anthony coach Kevin Smisek directed questions to the communications office at University of the Incarnate Word, which manages the high school. UIW officials could not be reached for comment.
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This should become an automatic UIL suspension with expectation that the player just might be done playing football ever. This was bad of course. Folks can kibitz on the differences between these incidents and there are some and yet they are both bad. The refs are charged with keeping order on the field. They are supposed to interact with the players in a firm way. Touching a ref should never be an option.
Last edited by Hollywood; 09-13-2015, 12:08 PM.Comment
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*sigh*
I'm a teacher, and I've had kids go toe to toe with me. I have no idea where this behavior is learned or advocated. I am the adult, and while I very well may be wrong, that is not grounds for a kid to get in my face.. Every time this is brought up with the parents there is almost always support from the parents in disciplining the child based on said actions.
I blame social media.. Maybe I'm way off here, but it seems that's where a lot of the sense of entitlement comes from..
Facebook can go die in a fire..
How these football players ever thought it was ok to shove or spear a ref is beyond me..Last edited by sTp; 09-13-2015, 02:12 PM....Comment
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If this becomes commonplace as it may well do, I can see where referees hesitate to throw a flag. Ball games could take place with no audience. I know I wouldn't pay to see gang wars. I still think a punishment that reach's out beyond only the two players and a coach will be the only thing that will nip this lawlessness in the bud.Comment
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This 23-Second Video Shows What’s Being Called ‘One of the Dirtiest Football Plays You’ll Ever See’
A New Jersey high school football player was caught on video apparently pulling the helmet off an opposing blocker and — while the blocker was on his hands and knees with his bare head exposed — rearing back and slamming the blocker in the head with the helmet.
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The Linden High School defensive lineman was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct after the second-quarter running play but not ejected from the game against Immaculata High School in Linden Friday night, MyCentralJersey.com reported.
The Immaculata offensive lineman received 10 stitches and was treated for a deep bruise at a hospital and released, the school’s athletic director Tom Gambino told the outlet.
The Juvenile Bureau of the Linden Police Department is investigating the incident. It’s unclear if Immaculata will pursue criminal charges against the Linden player.
“The Linden Public School District is aware of the incident. An investigation by administration is taking place and disciplinary consequences will be issued accordingly,” Linden Superintendent Danny A. Robertozzi said in a statement. “Due to student confidentiality, no further comments will be released. The Linden Public School District is taking this very seriously and by no means is this incident a reflection of our school community or athletic teams.”
Gambino said Linden school officials apologized and principals of both high schools are in communication about the incident, MyCentralJersey.com reported. He said he hasn’t received a response from NJSIAA Associate Director Larry White, who oversees football officials.
“Obviously this is very serious,” Gambino told the outlet. “When you see it on film, it’s like, ‘Oh my God.’ Obviously the officials didn’t see it. If he did, I’m sure he would have walked the kid to the Linden sideline. These (officials) are good guys. That’s not the point here. It’s hard to believe they didn’t see it. But, come on. If you see that, you have to think that he would have been led off the field.”
Barstoolsports.com covered the incident using the following headline: “Here Is One of the Dirtiest Football Plays You’ll Ever See.”
Immaculata won 26-6.
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