4 Accused of Assaulting 2 Referees at Youth Game

Two youth-football referees were beaten by irate fans in a post-game brawl Saturday in La Habra that left one official with a broken jaw and four adults under arrest on suspicion of assault and battery, police said Sunday.

Veteran referee Robert A. Sims, 43, was treated at St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton and later released. Although the La Habra man refused comment Sunday on the advice of his attorney, Sims did say that his broken jaw “is going to require surgery, and I will have my jaws wired shut for six to eight weeks.”

Referee John M. Plowman, 36, also of La Habra, was battered in the incident, but did not need medical attention, La Habra Police Sgt. Perry Miller said Sunday.

“Plowman complained of pain in his right jaw area and had red marks on his neck and shoulders,” Miller said.

Violence on the Rise

County football officials, reacting to the incident Sunday, blasted the attacking fans, saying that violence against referees at children’s games is on the rise and that parents are ruining the sporting experience for their offspring.

“I’m just absolutely irate over parents acting that way,” said Earl Engman, president of the Orange County Football Officials Assn., which oversees officials at high school games. “Who do you think you are? What a role model for the kids. ‘My dad beat up an official today.’ I can’t imagine a Saturday afternoon football game bringing out that kind of emotion.”

The melee broke out at 12:30 p.m. at Esteli Park in La Habra, Miller said, after the La Habra Pee-Wee Raiders beat the Long Beach Bears 7-6 in an emotional, hotly contested Pop Warner football game.

“After the game was over and the two officials were walking off the field, one of the officials was attacked by a female,” Miller said. “She was grabbing him from behind. At that time, three other males joined in the fight. From what I gather, the officials did not fight back.”

Arrested on one count each of assault and battery were Mary Eneliko, 36; Poyer Poyer, 42, and Kosena Samoa, 50, all of Long Beach, and Mack Sagato, 33, of Los Angeles. Eneliko, Samoa and Sagato were released on $500 bail. Poyer was released on bail of $840 because of several unpaid tickets, Miller said.

All four suspects were Long Beach Bears fans, but Miller said he did not know whether they were parents of Pop Warner football players. The brawl apparently broke out when the four became incensed over what they felt was a bad call by the referees.

Players in Pop Warner, the Little League of football, generally range between the ages of 7 and 14, one football official said.

Police were aided in their investigation by a spectator who was videotaping the game and recorded much of the melee. The tape, which was held for evidence, does not show who threw the punch that broke Sims’ jaw, Miller said, but “you see some grabbing, pulling . . . . It shows the wrestling and grabbing.

Give League a Bad Name

“I’ve talked to both officials this morning, and what they’re afraid is that this is going to give a bad name to Pop Warner football,” said Miller, who referees Little League baseball games in his spare time.

“I know Sims personally. He said he’s been involved in officiating Pop Warner football for 10 years and Little League for 14 years and this is the first time he’s had anything happen like this in all of his years of officiating and umpiring.”

But violence against umpires in youth sports is not new in Orange County. At a Father’s Day Little League game in Huntington Beach last June, the Garden Grove father of one of the players allegedly slugged a 16-year-old umpire several times before spectators could intervene.

Safety Harder to Ensure

Jim Legerski, a longtime referee and active member of both the Orange County Football Officials Assn. for high school referees and the Southern Football Officials Assn., which oversees Pop Warner officials, said referee safety is getting harder to ensure.

“I think it falls on the host team to ensure your safety, and they take it for granted,” Legerski said. “Sometimes it gets ugly.”

In his 16 years officiating at Pop Warner and high school football games and college baseball events, Legerski said he has endured abuse from fans and parents ranging from shouted epithets to threats on his life. But the problem is getting worse, and he said it has changed his view of the games and his role in them.

“I have a personal plan for retirement,” he said. “If I ever get assaulted, I hope it’s by a brain surgeon, an attorney, or a retired millionaire. I’m going to own what he owns and whatever he makes for the rest of his life. If you get a piece of me, Buster, it’s going to cost you.”