This is something you might hear about in the movies since such blatant acts of aggression in the game of American football are known to happen from time to time since athletes can become emotional, aggressive, and do things in the heat of the moment. But the worst part of this doesn’t have to do with the fact a referee was injured by a player, since what’s worse is that Emmanuel Duron of the Edinburgh High School football team lost his entire team a spot in the playoffs after blindsiding a referee. Worse still, he’d already been ejected from the game, which means that he shouldn’t have been on the field at all by that point. But whether passions were running high or Emmanuel just wasn’t thinking straight, he did more damage to his team and to his own reputation than he might have realized since unless he’s that great of a player, it’s likely that any colleges he might have been hoping to attend won’t want to take even a glance at him now unless things are somehow smoothed over and feelings are assuaged in the next year or so. According to the several news articles that covered this story Emmanuel was taken into police custody on an assault charge, which will only further damage his chances of playing college ball if that was his goal since being 18 years old he is a legal adult.
Obviously, Texas takes their sports seriously, especially football, but there are times when someone has to remind these kids that tempers can flare and a person can be caught up in the heat of the moment, but there are people on the field that one just doesn’t target. Sadly, this isn’t such an uncommon thing in Texas apparently, but it’s definitely not encouraged since it sounds as though the referee suffered a concussion as a result of the attack, which is just what it was since Duron had no business being on the field any longer. Plus, as it’s seen in the movies and on TV, one of the things that a player should NEVER do is willfully attack the referee. There have been moments in NFL history and even in fictional stories when contact with the referee has happened, it’s not something that can be avoided one hundred percent since the refs are on the field and they’re bound to be struck at some point if they’re not aware of their surroundings or are looking in the wrong direction at the wrong moment. But willful intent is far different than an accidental collision, though both can do a lot of damage. Every person on a football field is expected to be able to hold themselves accountable for their actions, which is why more referees aren’t hurt in this manner, not even on accident, since players are taught that referee is not the person to mess with, as they can deliver penalties that hurt the team and can even toss players out if there’s good enough reason.
One instance in which a player should have been thrown out in the movies was during the reboot of The Longest Yard with Adam Sandler when the character of Paul Crewe tossed more than one pass directly at a referee’s crotch with every intention of teaching the man a lesson for his erroneous calls. Like it or not, the referee is not a valid target on the field, for ANYONE, and in a real game, Sandler’s character would have been tossed out of the game and likely fined, if not brought up on criminal charges of assault, which would have been comical since he was already a convict. Whether or not Duron will be charged is yet to be seen, but hearing that this isn’t an isolated event makes one wonder if Texas might take the game of football a little too seriously sometimes if more than one incident has occurred over the years. It’s hard to say what might be done to discourage this kind of behavior, but costing one’s entire team entry into the playoffs might be one trick, even if it might sound excessive to some folks. In a way it does, since the offending player can’t possibly represent the entire team, but will surely be looked at as an issue that needs to be resolved since such behavior isn’t needed on the field, not even in a sport where aggression is considered a necessary part of the game. It might sound a bit biased, but it does feel as though Duron should be brought up on assault charges to teach the young man a lesson about targeting those that don’t see him coming, as well as about personal responsibility on and off the field. If there’s one thing to learn from all this, apart from NEVER hitting a referee, it’s to realize that once your cleats leave that field, it’s important to let go of whatever the issue was, otherwise it has a chance of getting ugly very quickly.
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