UEFA referees' chief Pierluigi Collina has called for a halt to the worrying rise in the number of attacks on referees at the amateur level of Italian football in the wake of yet another incident which left an official in hospital.
An 18-year-old referee from Casarano, in Apulia, was attacked by the father of a player, who climbed over the perimeter fencing and invaded the pitch, much to his own son's horror.
The 14-year-old was reportedly in tears when he apologised for his father's behaviour to the referee, who was forced to abandon the game between Tricase and Sogliano midway through the second half before being taken to hospital for treatment.
It comes just a week after a 17-year-old official Luigi Rosato was attacked by players, fans and officials of another club in the region of Apulia, although the situation is even worse in other regions of Italy.
In Sicily, 98 attacks on referees have been reported by the Italian Referees' Association (AIA) so far this season, while there have been 44 in Calabria and 39 in Campania.
In total, there have been 375 aggressive acts on referees up and down Italy so far this season, which is already 15 more than in the whole of the 2013-14 campaign -- an alarming number which former official Collina says must be addressed.
"How is it possible that a 17-year-old boy can be attacked and assaulted just because he made a mistake, assuming it was a mistake, in giving a penalty?" Collina wrote in La Gazzetta dello Sport. "Try to put yourself in his place and try to put yourself in the place of his father, who was watching on from the side of the pitch when all this happened.
"I've read what Luigi Rosato has written on social networks and it made me think of my own father, who like Luigi's would always be there to watch me because he had to drive me when I didn't have a licence. My father didn't even like football, but he followed these games which were boring for him and heard all the insults that were made to his son. He was luckier because he never had to run into the dressing room to protect his son.
"It's a problem which exists and, unfortunately, words are not enough. Last week, there was a constant stream of comments, condemning the violence of a man against a boy. And what is the result? Seven days later, Luca Del Sole, 18, is attacked by the father of a player in an under-14s match. Yes, you read it right -- under-14s. It's a problem which must be tackled -- now. By the way, I was never assaulted, but it is because I was lucky, not because I was good."