[snrmike]

I just read the article. It didn't say inconclusive anywhere in the article - it said that the angle that the tape was made from wasn't good enough to determine who did what.

I also spoke with a couple of parents who attended the game, not to mention the senior official on the game who has approximately 20 years on the job. The kid ref who was shoved is 19. He's also only about 5-10 and weighs about 150lbs soaking wet.

Judge for yourselves guys... here's the article:

"Referees demand coach's ouster "

Alleged attack during a youth league game has officials sitting out

Sunday, October 6, 2002

By Carrie Wolfe
Staff writer

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Forty referees who work for a local private youth football league are refusing to show up at games until a coach who allegedly attacked a referee is banned from the league.
The referees, who are hired by the Southwest Midget Football League, said they are uniting in support of Steve Besse Jr., 19, who says two Palos Stars coaches attacked him Sept. 14 at a Palos Stars-New Lenox Mustangs game.

Palos Stars assistant coach Joseph Vojanek was banned from the league after the incident, but head coach Louis Trench was not.

Referees are worried for their safety, former head referee Tom Hug said.

"We want (Trench) to be banned from coaching and being the athletic director for the Palos Stars," Hug said. "(Referees) don't want him to be on the game fields."

Trench is the same coach who drew criticism for allegedly giving a 10-year-old player the prescription diuretic Lasix in 1995 to help him lower his weight before football tryouts.

Although never criminally charged by Palos Hills police, Trench was quoted in media accounts as supporting the one-time use of the drug, which rids the body of water and causes users to urinate heavily. Doctors at the time said the drug could cause health problems in a child with undiagnosed kidney or heart problems.

The league has rejected the referees' demand to oust Trench.

At a special meeting Wednesday, the league board voted to keep Trench in his current positions as vice president of the Southwest league and athletic director for the Palos Stars.

The board, made up of the athletic directors of the 14 teams in the league, also adopted a set of official policies, including one that enables the league to expel from a game any coach, athletic director, official or fan who physically assaults any game participant, said Tinley Park Bulldogs athletic director Nick Genardo.

That and other policies the league adopted — outlining provisions on sportsmanship, coach conduct and liability issues — were requested by the referees.

But the league hasn't met all the demands, including banning Trench.

"We will not be back until those demands are met," Hug said.

In addition to the 40 referees boycotting the league, 280 other referees around the state have agreed to join the strike until demands are met, Hug said.

As a result, games are being played with coaches and fathers serving as referees. The 51 games played last weekend had no official referees. The league has more than 3,000 players.

Some parents will not let their children play without licensed officials, Hug said. But several athletic directors said things were going fairly smoothly without the referees, despite a few questionable calls.

Hug suggested that parents may not want to speak out because they fear their kids will be denied playing time.

"They're just afraid of the repercussions they will face for speaking out," Hug said.

Tolerated behavior?

Before this incident, the league had no written policy for coach-referee conduct, Genardo said. In the league's 42-year history, no coach had had a physical fight with a referee, he said.

Vojanek was banned from the league on Sept. 25 after the league determined that he "actually put his hands on (Besse)," Genardo said.

"We don't tolerate that kind of behavior," he said.

But the league voted to keep Trench, since "there is no physical proof, other than going off on a screaming rampage, which Louis is known for, that (Trench) physically touched (Besse)," he said.

Coaches reviewed a home video of the incident Wednesday before voting to exonerate Trench.

Referees and coaches disagree on what the video shows. Genardo said it clears Trench, but some referees say they see Trench push Besse several times.

In a copy of the tape viewed by a Daily Southtown reporter, Trench can be seen yelling in Besse's face and then being restrained by at least two people while he continues to yell at Besse. It is difficult to determine whether there was any physical contact because of the camera angle and the distance from the action.

Regardless of whether Trench pushed Besse, Hug said he believes the incident set a bad example for the players.

"Now it's acceptable behavior to those kids," Hug said.

While Trench was reprimanded verbally and in writing for his actions at the game, Hug said the referees believe Trench is being protected by the league because he has been involved in the program for at least 30 years.

But Genardo disagreed.

"The big rumor is we're a good ol' boys network and we took care of Lou," Genardo said. "That's not true."

For his part, Trench would only say that neither he nor Vojanek touched Besse and reiterated that "the league exonerated me."

He referred all other questions to his attorney, David Dineff, who repeated Trench's comments and said he had not seen the video or discussed Trench's behavior with him.

Vojanek declined comment; league president Ron Schaper did not return several calls.

'Have someone else run it'

According to Besse, the incident at the Sept. 14 game in New Lenox started when, with two minutes left in the game, Vojanek called for a time-out.

The Palos Stars were losing 29-0. Vojanek approached Besse and started yelling obscenities at him and two other game officials, Besse said.

Besse threw a yellow flag and called an automatic 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. Vojanek picked up the flag and threw it at him, Besse said.

Vojanek then pushed Besse's shoulders and "belly butted" him, Besse said. When Besse ejected him from the game, Trench came onto the field, "belly butted" him and pushed him, Besse said.

Besse asked Trench to leave, but Trench said, "I'm not leaving my (expletive) field," and, "I'm going to (expletive) kill you," Besse said.

Besse said he's been refereeing for several years and began working with the Illinois High School Association when he was 18, but the fight has caused him to question if he wants to continue.

"It just kind of gets to the point where I don't know if I want to do this anymore," he said. He's not scared of the two coaches, he said, but he won't go near them.

"I think he should be out of the league," Besse said of Trench. "They can have someone else run it."

Referee Larry Hug, Tom Hug's brother, said Trench told him repeatedly that night, "if that (expletive) punk presses charges Monday, he's a dead man."

Kids caught in the middle

Players in the league range in age from 7 to 14. They come to play from as far north as Palos Hills, as far south as Crete-Monee, as far east as Glenwood and as far west as Joliet.

Super pee-wee division Palos Stars Coach Rick Hoppenrath Jr., who witnessed the confrontation, said events of the day contributed to the fight.

There were questionable calls throughout the game, Hoppenrath said, and Besse wasn't paying attention. Besse was concerned about younger children playing near his truck and missed a hard illegal hit to a Palos Stars player, he said.

He also said that while Trench screamed at Besse to get off the field, he never touched Besse. But, he said, Besse slapped Vojanek's hand away when Vojanek pointed at him.

"The problem is I feel the referees are trying to hold us hostage," Hoppenrath said. "Of everybody that's in (the football league), they're the only paid people. ... All they're hurting is the kids."

Besse denied Hoppenrath's allegations, but referees agreed that the players are the ones who are suffering.

"The adults who are running the league and refusing to do the right thing are making the kids suffer," Larry Hug said.

Possible charges

Besse went to the Palos Hills Police Department on the Monday after the incident and asked to press charges against Trench and Vojanek.

No charges have been filed yet, and Besse said he may take his case to the Cook County state's attorney if they do not.

And the decision not to return to field was not unanimous for the referees. Two have agreed to start working again because they believe Trench didn't touch Besse, Genardo said.

The league does not disagree that Trench went too far, he said.

"We're all in full agreement that Louis' actions were a little over the top, no doubt about it."