Serious assault on referee
South African referees have again suffered from the physical assault on a fellow official. This time a sad and serious incident happened in Pretoria.
The referee concerned was Marais van Zyl, a member of the Blue Bulls Referees' Society and an experienced referee. After the incident he was admitted into the intensive care unit of the Montana Hospital in Pretoria.
The match was between the first teems of Tuine RFC and Brits. The match was played at Tuine's ground in the west of Pretoria. Tuine won the match 34-30.
Van Zyl changed after the match and was invited by the club chairman, Jaco Olivier, to the clubhouse for refreshments. He and one of his assistants when to Van Zyl's car to lock up their tog bags.
There Van Zyl was confronted by two angry spectators, apparently brothers and apparently not members of the Tuine club. One of the pair asked Van Zyl why he had refereed so badly (kak) and immediately hit the referee.
Van Zyl struggled to remain conscious and opened his car door to get to his cellphone, whereupon his attacker kicked at the door so that Van Zyl was pinned between the door and the car. The referee and his assistant fought to defend themselves when one of the pair, apparently not the first aggressor, hit the referee on the head with a crash helmet. When other spectators rushed to the referees' assistance, the assailants ran away.
Olivier ordered the club's gates closed and phoned the police, but it was established that the assailants had left.
Van Zyl left the club under his own steam but was later admitted to the hospital, apparently with bruising and swelling to the brain.
Van Zyl's wife, Surita visited him in hospital and said that she intended bringing a complaint of assault and attempted murder to the police. Eugene Hare the CEO of the Blue Bulls Rugby Union said that the police had opened a case of assault.
