Reda Saleem (Dubai)
The Salvadoran media highlighted the killing of a referee by a player because of a red card, and social networking sites published the details of the incident, calling on the police to arrest the player who escaped following severely beating the referee, who breathed his last in the hospital.
Football in El Salvador witnessed the killing of a referee who was running a match in an amateur tournament by a player because of showing him a red card. Referee Jose Arnoldo Amaya was severely beaten by a player following he was sent off.
The 63-year-old referee received a strong kick in the chest and fell to the ground and remained unconscious due to the blows he received and caused internal bleeding. The victim was quickly transferred from Toluca Stadium in San Salvador to the nearest hospital, where he died a few hours later as a result of what he was exposed to.
The Salvadoran Football Association issued a statement expressing its regret over the referee’s death. “We deplore what happened to referee Jose Arnoldo Amaya and trust that the authorities can find the player who killed the referee,” said Hugo Carrillo, president of the federation.
Jairo Amaya, son of the referee, said that his father blamed the player at the beginning and following the match ended, he showed him the second yellow card, which led to the expelled hitting him repeatedly, causing his death.
He added: “I received over the phone the news of what happened to my father and I was not there, and I learned that the assailant beat him until he fell following he expelled him and showed him the red card, but the player continued to beat him to death, and my father was already suffering from a serious illness and died in the hospital, and the police did not give me nor Anyone have specific information regarding who attacked my father?
It is noteworthy that Arnoldo Amaya has been running amateur football matches for more than 30 years, following dedicating himself to it, while making a living from the profession of tailor.
