Seven people jailed for beating linesman to death after amateur Dutch football match



Six young footballers and a father of one of the players have been jailed for beating a linesman to death during an amateur match in the Netherlands last year.

Richard Nieuwenhuizen, 41, from Buitenboys, died after being punched and kicked by players from opponents Nieuw Sloten on Sunday, December 2.

A Dutch court convicted the seven people involved of manslaughter in the death of volunteer linesman Nieuwenhuizen who was knocked to the ground and repeatedly kicked after a youth match last December in a brutal attack.

Judges in Lelystad sentenced the 50-year-old father to six years in prison. Five teenaged players were given two-year sentences in youth detention for their roles in the attack and another was sentenced to a year.



Shocking: Richard Nieuwenhuizen was beaten to death during a Dutch amateur football match last year

A seventh player, age 15, was sentenced to 30 days detention for assault.



All the defendants had insisted they were innocent. They have two weeks to appeal. Their lawyers had argued that the linesman, Richard Nieuwenhuizen, had an underlying medical condition that contributed to his death but Dutch forensic experts said he died as a result of the beating.



Judges said the young players acted together in the fatal beating and gave them the highest sentences available.



'The seriousness of the event, the lack of a clear reason for it, the terrible consequences, the fact that they haven't accepted responsibility for their acts and the enormous shock it caused throughout society and the entire football world meant that the minors received the maximum possible sentence,' the court said in a statement.



Target: Richard Nieuwenhuizen Respect: PSV and Twente remember Nieuwenhuizen

The fatal attack took place on December 2 in the Dutch city of Almere, after the home team Buitenboys drew 2-2 with Nieuw Sloten, which is based in a mostly immigrant neighborhood of Amsterdam.



The 41-year-old Nieuwenhuizen was a volunteer linesman, officiating in a match that his son was playing in. He initially seemed to recover and shrugged off questions about whether he would file a complaint, but he later collapsed and died in hospital the following day.



The Netherlands' National Forensics Institute concluded he was killed as a result of injuries sustained during the attack.



In a statement, the court said the father sentenced to six years had received a heavy punishment because 'instead of setting a good example to the youths by criticizing their behavior he joined them in kicking and beating the linesman and has never accepted responsibility' for his actions.



Verdict: Nieuwenhuizen's wife (pink shirt) leaves the courthouse in Lelystad on Monday

Nieuwenhuizen's death triggered a bout of soul-searching in Dutch football and beyond about the loss of respect for sports officials among youth players.



'You can't imagine it happening,' said Ajax coach Frank de Boer. 'That boys of 15, 16 years short circuit like that. You wonder about the parenting.'

More than 12,000 people attended a silent march for Nieuwenhuizen in Almere on December 9.



'What can I do to teach today's football youth the difference between anger and aggression?' said Dutch football association chairman Michael van Praag at a ceremony afterwards. 'Football is emotion, but it's also winning and losing. You have to be able to do both, otherwise you don't fit in our sport.'

