MURRAY, Utah (AP) — The president of a soccer league where a Utah referee was punched by a player and sent into a coma says the league will be hiring security for its games.
Mario Vasquez said Friday he’s still in shock about what happened last Saturday to his friend Ricardo Portillo.
He says La Liga Continental de Futbol will continue holding weekend games for children and teens at a middle-school field in suburban Salt Lake City. But he says off-duty police officers will watch over things.
Vasquez says the league was created in 2009 to provide a family-friendly place where the Hispanic community could play soccer.
Portillo’s family says the 46-year-old was attacked before while refereeing. Vasquez says those incidents didn’t happen in his league, and that it’s never seen anything this violent before.
