North Village Rams midfielder Kacy Simons spent last night behind bars at Westgate prison after admitting in Magistrates' Court that he punched a soccer referee.

Senior Magistrate Edward King meted out a three month prison sentence to Simons, 35, of Bandroom Lane, Pembroke, for causing grievous bodily harm to referee Perry Scott. A year in prison is the maximum allowed sentence for the offence. Last night, he instructed lawyer Larry Mussenden to appeal the sentence on the grounds it is manifestly excessive.

Simons landed in trouble during a Commercial League game last November at Bernard Park when a dispute arose between he and Mr. Scott about a decision the referee had made.

Simons was issued a yellow card for bad sportsmanship after he began yelling at linesmen and verbally abusing officials. He then became very irate and made an obscene gesture at Mr. Scott, for which he was issued a red card.

Simons then punched Mr. Scott in the nose.

Mr. Scott was taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital to have surgery to clear his nasal passages. He had to go to the emergency room a second time for a second nasal operation later on.

Mr. Scott said he would have avoided pressing charges had he not had to make the hospital appearances. Instead, he said he would even have talked to Simons personally about the problem.

When asked by Acting Senior Magistrate Edward King if he had anything to say before he was sentenced, Simons said: "I would not like to be jailed for something I've done once.'' Mr. King replied: "Well, you know something? Cain only killed Abel one time.'' Simons then apologised for the incident.

Footballer jailed for punching referee In sentencing Simons, Mr. King said: "This was a vicious attack. The spate of violence rocking this community must be deterred.'' He then said that he considered a custodial sentence the only way to deal with this problem, before sentencing Simons to three months imprisonment, effective yesterday.

The assault on Mr. Scott was the final straw in a series of several attacks on football officials. It resulted in a three week boycott by the Bermuda Referees' Association.

Simons was also banned from North Village for five years, and from the Bermuda Football Association for twelve years, a move which has effectively ended his soccer career.

English Premier League team Sheffield Wednesday's Italian striker Paolo di Canio presented just one example of players abusing referees when he sent a ref sprawling to the ground in 1998.

While he was reprimanded, he was not jailed.

And an adult soccer player was fined $10,000 in damages in Virginia for a 1999 assault on a ref.

Almost six years ago Gregory Grimes, then president of the BFRA, stated: "Violence in soccer has simply got to be stamped out, and there has to be a clear message sent that it will no longer be tolerated.'' He also recalled an incident in Cyprus when referees withdrew their services after an official was attacked and injured, saying: "It has got to the point that some of our members are saying that it's just a matter of time before something serious (like that) happens here. Naturally none of us want to see anybody injured.'' With the Kacy Simons incident, however, both the injuring of a ref and withdrawal of referees' services have taken place.

Earlier in that year, 1995, after an incident at Devonshire Rec. where fans hurled bottles at officials and nearly caused a riot, Grimes said: "If referees continue to be abused like they have then the real loser is going to be the sport of soccer.''