An Argentinian soccer player brutally attacked a female referee during a match on Sunday. The match ended up being suspended and Cristian Tirone of the third division Club Deportivo Garmense in Aregentina was arrested on the field.
The female official called a foul on Tirone, who was strongly opposed to the call. Tirone’s teammates attempted to pull him away from the official while he was arguing, but Tirone was then issued a yellow card.
That’s when Tirone broke away from his teammates and threw a punch towards the head of the official, which knocked her down. Shortly after Tirone was pulled away from the official by the assistant referees. The police then came onto the pitch and arrested Tirone.
The official, whose name is Dalma Cortadi, told Olé News (via La Nacion) that she was forced to go to the hospital. Cortadi was kept in the hospital for observation and suffered bruises and scrapes on her arms as a result of the attack.
“This situation harms me at work since it makes me unable to work,” Cortadi told Olé News. “Now I must be strong. The blows left me sore … You have to kick him out forever. He should never be in any club. He is a violent person. He must also be in his daily life. I saw it on the video: a normal person does not do what this man did. No person deserves this. We don’t go to the [matches] to be beaten. I hope he pays for what he did.”
After Tirone was arrested, the match was immediately suspended.
Club Deportivo Garmense also issued a statement regarding the brutal attack.
“Given the events that occurred this Sunday during the Third Division football match that was played in the city of Adolfo Gonzales Chaves between Garmense and Independencia, during which a player from Garmense physically attacked the woman who officiated as referee, the Club expresses its energetic repudiation of this action that is at odds with the spirit that is intended to instill with the practice of this sport,” the club said.
