An Ohio high school soccer referee red-carded a Steubenville player, and while he watched him leave, a teammate ran at him full speed

A high school soccer referee in Ohio reportedly finished a game after being tackled by a player, despite suffering a broken rib and a collapsed lung. The incident occurred during a district tournament match between Steubenville and New Philadelphia, which ended in a 2-1 victory for New Philadelphia.

As reported by BroBible, the trouble started near the end of the game when a Steubenville player appeared to mouth something toward the official following a missed scoring chance. The referee issued a red card to the player for those comments.

As the official watched the carded player walk off the field, he did not see another Steubenville player sprinting toward him. Video first posted by radio host Bob Greenburg appears to show the teammate tackling the referee, a scene that overshadowed the district tournament contest.

The referee chose to finish the final minutes anyway

Greenburg contacted the Ohio High School Athletic Association Director of Officials to get more details on the situation. He later shared an update on X regarding the extent of the injuries.

According to that update, the referee reportedly suffered a collapsed lung and a broken rib. He had about five minutes left to officiate when the tackle happened, but he still managed to finish the remaining time in the match.

The match ended with New Philadelphia winning, but the result has drawn far less attention than the tackle. Physical contact between officials and players at high school games has drawn scrutiny before, as a referee grabbing a high school player showed.

The update provided to Greenburg said the official finished the game in discomfort. He chose to work through the pain rather than stop the match.

The district tournament game had been a competitive contest between the two schools. Greenburg said the official went to the hospital after finishing the match, and that he had been told the referee was doing OK.

Attack of the Fanboy was unable to independently verify the Steubenville player’s or the school’s side of the story, as this account comes solely from video and updates shared on X.