[greymule]

. . . charges could be brought against the person just as if it was violence against any ordinary citizen.

I'm not for creating special classes of victims, whether in sports or anything else. "Hey, judge, I didn't split his skull because he was [fill in name of protected victim group]. I did it because he claimed the hands are part of the bat."

However, violence in sports has generally been treated more leniently than violence in the general society. Though this might be a sensible position when it comes to brief and inconsequential flare-ups in heated sporting events, umpires should be protected from violence the same on the field as on the street. But we don't need another special class of victim.