Referee punched to death by fan-cum-player in Kisii
Written by Inka FM on 4 December 2020
A referee in Kisii county has been punched to death by a player over a contested penalty during a local tournament.
John ‘Chang’aa’ Okwoyo was an assistant referee during a match which featured Ichuni Juniors and Aspire FC at Gesabakwa training ground.
According to Evans Mageka Kisii County Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Secretary , the player who punched the referee was not playing for either of the teams, though it’s assuaged that he might have been in support of Ichuni Juniors considering his reaction. The player is said to have been in the contrary opinion to the referee in regards to the decision to offer Aspire a penalty during the 70th-minute.
The penalty led to equalisation of the two teams.
The player is claimed to have assaulted the referee on the touchline for what was taken as having a bad feeling considering the decision.
This forced the centre referee to call off the match at that point.
“The match was at 70th minute when the incident happened. The player who hit the referee features for Ichuni senior side which was taking part in the tournament but on that day he was cheering for Ichuni Junior,” Mageka noted.
Mr. Okwoyo was rushed to a local hospital where he was dead on arrival.
“He loved soccer so much and we just never thought this was going to happen. He loved what he did and it was his passion,” Frank Okwoyo, son and also sports presenter at Radio Vuna was quoted saying.
The body of the deceased was moved to Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital awaiting post-mortem as police launched manhunt for the suspect.
