Dutch assistant referee killed by youth players

I am sad to report this is not a gag headline, or some clever turn on words that I am using to make a point about The Game.

This is a disgusting attack by (3) youth players, on another human, a father, a husband, a son, and assistant referee Richard Nieuwenhuizen.

Photograph via Facebook and ABC News

Serving as a volunteer assistant referee at his son's youth football match, he died after being kicked and beaten by several players. Nieuwenhuizen, 41, was shaking players’ hands when the three players, two 15-year-olds and one 16-year-old, surrounded him, pushed him to the ground, and began attacking him.

Authorities haven’t given a possible motive for the attack. The three boys accused in this case are in police custody, and will appear before a judge behind closed doors on Thursday.

Action taken was swift and included a lifetime ban from soccer in the country for the players arrested for the beating, and all upcoming Nieuw Sloten games have been canceled, the club where these criminals hail from. A number of teams, including all those based in Almere, have stated they will refuse to play any games against Nieuw Sloten.

Nieuw Sloten said in a statement on its website that it had banned the players involved and pulled its team out of the league. The statement said such incidents "do not belong on a football field". Both clubs cancelled all training scheduled for Monday.

This seems like a reasonable start.

To complete this, these boys should be thrown in jail to rot.

I am concerned about Norway's "restorative justice system" that generally is very gentile where I believe that (21) years is the maximum sentence for anything other than war crimes, or genocide.

Anyone remember Anders Breivik who only received (21) years for killing (77) people? Yep, that's about 100 days per murder.

Restorative huh.

Now from my criminal law days there are several reasons for punishment:

1. Deterrence (for others).
2. Retribution (for what they did).
3. Rehabilitation (so they won't do it again).
4. Incapacitation (so they can't do it again).

I'll be honest, I am going with 1 and 2 on this one and quickly followed up by a suit in tort for the families of each of these little murderers.

A strong message needs to be sent here, by the Dutch courts, Netherlands Football, and yes, FIFA. It needs to be stronger than what Sepp said the other day.

You want to make an impression, condemn the activity in the strongest possible terms. Be shocked, be sad, and be mad as hell that these punks did this, and promise swift and severe sanctions for all involved, the club, the league ... everyone, who takes such actions, or inactions.

It is times like this that I struggle with such barbaric actions, receiving humane treatment. It's the civilized thing to do, but I'll be honest folks, it is not coming easy for me personally on this one.