The vice president of the Interinsular Football Federation of Las Palmas and delegate for Children and Adolescents, José León Hernández, has assured La Voz that "there is no direct sanction" for those responsible for the shouts and threats against a 16-year-old referee during a youth match in Costa Teguise. Only a corporate financial sanction will be imposed against CD Tinajo.
"There is no sanction for the parents, because it is not 100% proven that they were the parents of the players, but they did come from the CD Tinajo fans," Hernández pointed out. In this line, he indicated that the club will have to pay a financial fine of 143 euros.
The Preferential League match in the Alevín category, with players between 10 and 11 years old, took place between the clubs of Palmeiros de Costa Teguise A. U.D. and Tinajo A C.D last Saturday, May 4.
The referee pointed out what happened in the arbitration report to which La Voz had access, in this case she stated that the visiting public of Tinajo A uttered insults such as "clown", "idiot", "son of a bitch", "you should be ashamed of how bad you are", as well as threats such as "come here and I'm going to give you a beating" or "I'll wait for you to come and I'll give you two slaps, clown".
Hernández has highlighted that the minor referees play identified from the beginning of the season, with a badge on a sleeve, so that fans know that they are addressing a teenager.
Minor referees are protected. The Federation already highlighted in a circular in August 2023 that this figure "holds a position of person worthy of special protection" and must "guarantee the fundamental rights of children and adolescents who enjoy football", respecting their "physical, psychic, psychological and moral integrity".
The way to act according to the Federation's regulations states that in the face of this type of case "the referee can address the field delegate to try to stop these attitudes", or ask him to "invite those who utter the threats to leave the field". However, there are no direct attributions to the Referees Federation so that they can identify a problematic fan.
In this line, from the FIFLP they have assured that they have contacted the General Directorate of Sports so that these sanctions have "added consequences" beyond the financial sanctions to the club.
Faced with this type of case, the Federation has added that they work with "players, federations and the public to prevent this type of case from happening again". Specifically, on the island of Lanzarote there are four serious or very serious cases per season in the five categories of minors that the island's football hosts, according to data provided by Hernández.
The lawyer Octavio Tophan has highlighted that "depending always on the context", some insults can be classified as a crime of insult, contemplated in the Penal Code. "For legal-criminal purposes, insults can be considered as expressions that injure the dignity of another person," he added. Thus, he highlights that these crimes, both insult and threat, "can only be prosecuted at the request of the offended person".
However, according to Hernández, it must be the parents of the minor who take legal action. "I know that until last week it had not been done," said the vice president of the FIFLP.
To conclude, the delegate for Children and Adolescents of the FIFLP has highlighted that this type of verbal aggression and threats "can trigger the abandonment" of minors from their sports career.