Referee-bullying troubles soccer
At the same time that top-of-the-soccer-table Olympiakos is protesting about certain referee decisions in its 2-1 loss to Panathinaikos on Saturday, two referee officials have complained about being attacked and threatened. Kyros Vassaras, the derby’s referee observer who reportedly approved the key calls at the match, was later followed by four men who allegedly attacked him in Piraeus. The men, wearing helmets, hit him with wooden sticks and then attacked the taxi he rushed into for protection. Vassaras and the taxi driver have filed charges of assault and bodily harm against «unknown parties.» Olympiakos condemned the incident. Yesterday Georgios Daloukas, the referee who quit the Super League after Olympiakos’s accusations of bias favoring Panathinaikos in the game with Aris, alleged he and his family had received death threats from two men at his house in the early hours of Sunday. He added he has recorded the threats on his cell phone and is planning on taking legal action. «The state must act or we’ll turn into a jungle,» Hellenic Football Federation president Sofoklis Pilavios said yesterday.
