Ref targeted by HS football players wants to press charges

The high school sports world was shocked over the weekend after video footage surfaced of two football players in Texas landing cheap shots on a referee they believed to have made a bad call, and now it looks like more consequences could be coming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNCrs63JeuM

Per ESPN, the referee, Robert Watts, is considering pressing charges against the two players, who were immediately ejected from the game after hitting him.

The referee was “very upset” and “wanting to press charges,” Austin Football Officials Association secretary Wayne Elliott said.

“The first thing we want is that those two kids never play football again,” said Elliott, who declined to release the referee’s name and added he was seeking guidance from the state officials association.

Northside Independent School District athletic director Stan Laing told KENS5-TV that the incident Friday was “disturbing” and “inexcusable.”

Mr. Watts also provided his own statement to the website TexasHSFootball.com:

“I like to keep my officiating quiet; unfortunately this will be big news. 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.”

Though there are probably some who were actually at the game and think that Watts got what he deserved, that doesn’t take away from the one truth of the incident. What happened was inexcusable. It was nothing but a ruthless and brutish assault against someone who was just doing their job. Bad refereeing is part of any sport, no matter how you look at it, and all complaints about Watts’ officiating should be given to the league if it was truly that bad.

This story is far from over, but one thing is certain. The two players who assaulted Watts have likely played their final down of high school football, and this incident will haunt them forever.

Campus Sports will update this story as any new information becomes available.

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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports

 

NFL doesn’t make as much sense for Nick Saban as Alabama
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