Referee who was attacked after football match speaks out for first time

Khodr Yaghi, 45, was allegedly attacked after helming a match within the metropolis’s south-west every week in the past.

He was left with a shattered jaw and two damaged ribs after newbie boxer Adam Abdullah allegedly rushed the sphere and repeatedly punched him.

Yaghi stated regardless of his accidents, it was price it if he can be certain that it by no means occurs to a different referee.

“If I knew from day one I’m gonna be victim to change that game, I will always put my hand up and take it,” he advised 9News.

“Honestly, I got nothing against him.

“I simply wish to transfer on … and I want him all the perfect and that he too study from that.”

The father-of-four has a nine-month-long recovery ahead of him and is determined to help change the game while he recovers on the sidelines, telling 9News more than 13,000 referees have been attacked in some way in the last five years.

Rodrigo Martins, president of the Canterbury Referees Association, said the abuse of referees goes all the way to the top.

“It’s not simply confined to grassroots, it is all the way in which from the nationwide physique to native golf equipment and associations,” he said.

Some changes have already been made following the alleged attack, with the Bankstown Football Association trialling body cameras for all referees at Men’s Premier League games. 

For games this weekend, teams will line up and clap for the referees as they walk onto the field, representing a guard of honour as a small gesture towards them.