Unsportsmanlike act: American football player banned for five years after knocking out referee during match
A Southern California community college player is suspended for five years after knocking out referee, but his school say the punch was accidental
A Southern California community college football player was suspended for five years on Monday after knocking out a referee during a game, but his school said the punch was accidental and the penalty will be appealed.
“I knew I wasn’t going to play the next game ... I didn’t think it would be years,” Bernard Schirmer of Mount San Antonio College said after learning of the suspension.
However, the 19-year-old man said in a telephone interview that he takes full responsibility for his actions and accepts whatever punishment he ultimately will receive.
The commissioner of the Southern California Football Association suspended Schirmer for what was termed a “Level 1 Decorum Infraction,” which carries a minimum 60-month suspension.
A letter from football association Commissioner Jim Sartoris to the college says an official’s game report stated that Schirmer was disqualified during the third quarter of Saturday night’s game in Ventura for an “unsportsmanlike act” – punching a referee and knocking him out cold.
The decision to suspend the player was made after viewing video of the incident and reviewing a report provided by the head referee, Sartoris said.
Video streaming live from the game showed the line judge falling to the ground.