Referee: Marais van Zyl
A referee from the Blue Bulls referees association is recovering in hospital after allegedly being assaulted following a club game in Gardens, Pretoria.
Marais van Zyl was hit over the head by a crash helmet and is recovering in the Montana hospital in Pretoria.
It is believed he was attacked by two supporters who were upset with his performance during the game.
Sport24
Van Zyl, who sustained bruising and swelling to the brain, said he can’t recall much of the incident.
“All I can remember was that I was busy putting my belongings in my car when a supporter asked me why my refereeing was so s**t.”
“He hit me before I could answer. I struggled to remain conscious and opened my car door to get my cellphone. At that moment he kicked the door to squeeze me in between the door and the car.”
“He then pushed me and tried to strangle me around the neck before one of my assistant referees pulled off. Shortly afterwards I felt a huge bang and can’t remember much more.”
“My face was very sore afterwards and I had massive headache.”
Van Zyl later heard it was a second supporter – presumed to be the brother of the first attacker – who hit him over the head with the crash helmet.
Van Zyl’s wife, Surita, lodged a complaint of assault and attempted murder with the police.
The executive committee of the Blue Bulls Rugby Union (BBRU) held a meeting regarding the incident on Monday night.
Their CEO, Eugene Hare, said they received a statement from the referees present as well as the club.
This is so sad and a blight on Rugby.
I sincerely hope that the perpetrators are found and never allowed to set foot near a Rugby pitch again.
The sad part is that they will be protected by some “Rugby people”.
skors die klub
ja, ek weet in baie gevalle (en dalk hierdie een ook) het die klub dalk nie ñ record v sulke voorvalle nie (en verwag dit dus nie),
maar
as klubs aanspreeklik gehou word en spelers vd klubs verhoed word om ten minste vir daai seisoen (afhangend vd erns vd voorval en of die spelers self betrokke was) vir ander klubs te speel
sal klubs refs se veiligheid begin ernstig opneem en stappe neem om hul veiligheid te verseker!
2 @ Ashley:
Dis nie Klub Spelers wat die referee aangerand het nie, dis ondersteuners… dom farktup ondersteuners.
So, hoe wil jy die Klub straf, vir iets wat nooooooit onder hulle beheer kan of sal val nie?
Hoe sal ‘n Klub ooit kan verhoed dat lede van die publiek, na die wedstryd, buite die stadion… nie kak aanjaag nie?
Waar lê die Klub se blaamwaardigheid in hierdie spesifieke omstandighede?
Waar was die Klub of Klublede of Spelers Nalatig of Opsetlik in hul optrede in hierdie omstandighede?
Daar is mos wette en ons gereg, wat juis in hierdie land en enige land, juis daar gestel is om die publieke orde te handhaaf en te patrolleer!
Laat die gereg sy loop neem, dis ‘n kriminele aangeleentheid, Aanranding met die Opset om ernstig te beseer en / of moontlik selfs Poging tot Moord!
Mens moet oppas, om nie die magte wat rugby het, te verbreed tot daar waar dit heeltemal buite hulle bestek en perke is nie!
3 @ grootblousmile:
I can’t agree with your opinion on this.
It MUST BE the club’s responsibility.
In European football, (soccer) the only time that the scourge of hooliganism started to come under any sort of control (at the stadia) was when the CLUBS were made responsible for their “supporters”.
Punish the clubs, and they’ll make sure that the yobos stay away and / or start to behave.
Someone at one of the 2 clubs involved in this incident knows exactly who the perpertrators are, but I can almost guarantee they’re being protected.
If the BBRU ban both clubs from participation until the perpertrators are identified, you can rest assured that they’ll be handed over in a very short period of time.
FORCE the clubs into REAL action, not sitting around talking bolloks about what happened.
@3 and 4
By the same token, should the Sharks not then have been banned after a spectator was killed by their supporters?
4 @ Scrumdown:
I’m not advocating that the incident was just or right, in fact the opposite, I say let the criminal investigation take its course and let the purpetrators be punished to the full exent of the law.
But what you are advocating is blameless prosecution or blameless accountability.
Sure, if a Club is Negligent or Culpable, they should answer… and indeed have a case to answer… but do they in this instance?
Did a Club Office Bearer or a Club Player or Club Emplyee commit the criminal act here? The answer seems to be NO, unless the assaultees fall within those categories.
We are not talking wholescale mob hooliganism here, it’s not anywhere near comparable to the Soccer gangs in some parts of the world, we are talking about an incident which happened at the oke’s car, some time AFTER the game, obviously not inside the Stadium.
Why do we need Police then, if we’re suddenly going to make Private and Public enterprise responsible for criminal matters, punishable without blame?
If the Club is to blame because it incited the incident, encouraged the act… then there is blame to lay on them.. and sure, then they have to be sanctioned.
But how wide do you want to take this blameless prosecution or blameless accountability?
If I walk in the street with my Bulls jersey on, past a Sharks supporter wearing his Sharks jersey, and I kick the dude because Jake White had something to say… are the Bulls responsible because I am a Bulls supporter?
Are the Sharks and Jake White responsible because Jake said what he said or is in fact a doos or because the Sharks sell Sharks rugby jerseys?
Should the Sharks Union and Sharks Super Rugby Franchise have been banned following that murder that took place at Kings Park a few years ago?
Hell no!
Should the purpetrator(s) be criminally prosecuted, found guily if he / they were and get sentenced? Hell Yes!
@ Scrumdown:
Unless this type of behavior is a reoccurring event, it makes no sense to disqualify an entire club for what two people did.
if this was a weekly thing then I would agree with you, but we do not have enough information to assume that.
ok, lets explain my perspective (not saying yours is wrong, just explaining where I come from and what motivated my view)
1. I talk from bitter experience of violence in club rugby in the boland area that still sometimes rears its ugly head
2. I did not know (from the article) that the incident did not happen within the club grounds
3. its also not certain how long after the game the incident happened (not from the article anyway, unless I forgot how to read) so I presumed it happened immediately afterwards as refs in games in the boland prefer to leave as soon as they can after a game. (ive even seen refs wait till they’re near there car, blow the final whistle and just get out of the grounds as fast as he can) if that was true that he left immediately after the game, the club should’ve made sure that he leave safely
Obviously the BBRU will have to investigate this, even if the club is presumed to be innocent to find out IF this is an isolated incident, if it is found that this hooliganism has happened before and not ideally dealt with (like to get the police involved) then appropriate action should be taken against the club.
This case probably has their own merits that can’t be determined and judged in a 20 line article.
gbs @ 6
if you told me that you kicked someone because he wore a sharks jersey,
then
I would definitely say that:
1. it was a puny little fellow,
2. he was so drunk he couldn’t walk,
3. super, macro en ben was with you!!
macro @ 9
agree
10 @ Ashley:
Hey, watchit!
I’ll send the Deputy Sherrif to your house!
Look, a lot of Sharks supporters deserve to be kicked once or twice, at least…. hahaha
gbs @ 12
hy wietie waa ek bly nie!
en waar bly die sharks?
😀
hulle bly stil
lol, ja daarvan gepraat, waar is die Sharks mense deesdae
More light has been shed on this incident, consider it, and then consider if the Club involved, Tuine, is at all to blame or need any sanction in any form, here is the article:
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 teams 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 went 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.
16 @ grootblousmile:
If the thugs are supportrs of, or affiliated to Brits, then the sanctions should be against Brits.
The problem with ALL incidences of this nature is that the complete history of a Club needs to be known to see whether it is an isolated incident, or just a couple of drunkards out to make k@k.
There are clubs in Gauteng that are serial offenders in similar incidences as this. (IE their “supporters” regularly make sh1t during or after games.)
Often the incidences are “hidden” or “swept under the carpet” by the Union(s) concerned.
As long as the Union fails to take decisive action, the same k@k will happen again.
Admittedly there are many factors that a Union has to consider, but invariably they will only take action as an absolutely last resort, and then it’s not always “fair” or “just”.
Trust me, I have first hand experience of it.
Interesting shit… 2 okes have been arrested, but it seems they were phoned to go cause kak, so a 3rd arrest is imminent.
Here’s the article:
Police have arrester two suspects for the assault of a referee in Pretoria last Saturday.
Marais van Zyl, the referee seriously assaulted after a match at the Tuine club in Pretoria, is making progress.
Progress is also being made in dealing with the culprits.
Van Zyl was taken to Montana Hospital last Saturday, after being assaulted after his match, in which Tuine beat visitors Brits 34-30.
He spent till Wednesday in the intensive care unit. On Wednesday he was released into the general ward, where his wife and two young children are able top visit him.
It is hoped that he will be discharged on Thursday.
Van Zyl was set upon by two men in the parking lot after his match.
He was punched, an attempt was made to throttle him and he was hit hard by a crash helmet.
Other people in the parking lot were incensed and the two fled.
The Tuine chairman, Jaco Olivier, ordered the gate to the parking lot closed, but the culprits had already left.
A complaint of assault was made to the police and action was taken.
The committee of Blue Bulls Rugby Union met on Tuesday to discuss the matter.
The union is supportive of the referees and has removed all home matches from Tuine till further notice and they have appointed an investigative officer to look into the case.
The two suspects are already behind bars.
They are apparently not members of either club, but were reportedly phoned to come and cause trouble.
A further arrest is said to be expected.
There is a shortage of referees in South Africa.
Recruitment is working well, but retaining referees once recruited is a problem as incidents of verbal and physical abuse make it hard to retain members.
@ grootblousmile:
The appropriate actions has been taken while the investigation is underway I think.
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