Soccer Player Arrested on Field After Punching Referee

A soccer player in Buenos Aires was arrested on the field immediately after he punched a referee over a called foul and subsequent yellow card. 

Cristian Tirone of the third-division Club Deportivo Garmense in Argentina was arrested on the field after he attacked the referee from behind.

In a video posted online, the official calls a foul on Tirone who argued the call. As he was being pulled away by teammates, the referee also issued a yellow card to one of Tirone's teammates. 

At that moment, Tirone breaks free of his teammates' hold and rushes the referee from behind. He hits her with a punch towards her head and knocks her to the ground. 

After being pushed away by other referees, the police come on the field and arrest Tirone. 

The game was suspended after the incident, and the referee, Dalma Cortadi, was taking to a hospital. She was kept at the hospital for observation due to the blow to the head and scrapes and bruises. 

"This situation harms me at work since it makes me unable to work," Cortadi told Olé, according to Google translate. "Now I must be strong. The blows left me sore ... You have to kick him out forever. He should never be in any club. He is a violent person. He must also be in his daily life. I saw it on the video: a normal person does not do what this man did. No person deserves this. We don't go to the [matches] to be beaten. I hope he pays for what he did."

The club issued the following statement: 

"Given the events that occurred this Sunday during the Third Division football match that was played in the city of Adolfo Gonzales Chaves between Garmense and Independencia, during which a player from Garmense physically attacked the woman who officiated as referee, the Club expresses its energetic repudiation of this action that is at odds with the spirit that is intended to instill with the practice of this sport. The Institution expresses its solidarity with the official who was attacked, expresses its apologies, makes itself available to her and commits to continue working to eradicate violence in all its forms and train athletes with values such as: discipline, camaraderie, commitment and, above all, respect and tolerance. — Board of Directors and Football Sub-Commission."