Dutch linesman death: three players face manslaughter charges The home of SC Buitenboys in Almere, Netherlands. Photograph: Vi-Images/Getty Images Richard Nieuwenhuizen was doing what he loved: watching his son play football and helping out his local club by running the touchline as a volunteer linesman. On Monday the 41-year-old father's passion for football cost him his life. Prosecutors announced on Tuesday they were charging three players, two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old, with manslaughter, assault and public violence for alleged involvement in a vicious attack on Nieuwenhuizen after a youth match between two local clubs, Buitenboys and Nieuw Sloten. The players, whose identities were not released, will be arraigned on Thursday at a closed-door hearing. Prosecutors say a group of Nieuw Sloten players surrounded Nieuwenhuizen and kicked and punched him after the match against his son's team on Sunday . Nieuwenhuizen went home to lie down, and returned later to watch another game, where he collapsed and was rushed to hospital. He died the next day. Prosecutors released no details of a possible motive and the Buitenboys club chairman, Marcel Oost, said the reason for the attack was not certain. "We still don't have a clear picture yet," prosecution spokeswoman Brigit Haan told Associated Press. The deadly assault sent shockwaves through the football-mad Netherlands, with the sports minister, football association and coach of the country's most celebrated club, Ajax, expressing disbelief and discontent. The attack hit at one of the foundations of Dutch youth sport: the participation of parents. On any given weekend, at thousands of sports grounds across the Netherlands, parents are the engine that powers youth sport. They volunteer for everything from brewing tea to marking out lines on fields and wielding whistles and flags as referees and linesmen. In the overwhelming majority of matches, players and parents enjoy the sport and then have a drink together in the clubhouse. But sometimes frustrations boil over into violence after the final whistle. The Amsterdam alderman Eric van der Burg, whose portfolio in the city covers sport, said the Nieuw Sloten team had been in trouble twice before, once for verbally abusing a referee and once when a player got into a fight with a spectator. The player involved in the fight was suspended by the club, Van der Burg said. He said the city had an agreement covering Ajax at the top all the way down to small local clubs to prevent aggression on and around fields. "It's important that parents but also the professional players give good examples how to behave," Van der Burg said. Sports should be fun. Even the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, weighed in on the debate about how such an attack could happen. "Football is a mirror of society and sadly, the same ills that afflict society - in this case violence - also manifest themselves in our game," Blatter said on Tuesday in a statement. Nevertheless, I remain convinced that football - through the example set by the tireless efforts of people like Mr Nieuwenhuizen - is a force for good, and we must continue to use its positive example to educate people against these wrongs. Nieuwenhuizen initially appeared to have recovered from the assault at the club, whose fields are squeezed into an industrial neighbourhood of Almere, a fast-growing commuter city just outside Amsterdam. He went home and lay down, but returned later to watch another game. It was then that he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. A day later, with his family surrounding his hospital bed, he died. A few hours later, decorations marking Wednesday's St Nicholas's Day - a national celebration similar to Christmas - were still hanging at the Buitenboys clubhouse as team members wept and consoled one another. Nieuw Sloten immediately banned the players involved and withdrew their team from the league as well as cancelling all matches for the coming weekend. As a wave of grief swept over the football community, another Amsterdam club, TOS-Actief, said on its website it was cancelling all matches for the weekend. "By doing this, TOS-Actief is taking a clear stance against excesses in football," the club said. We say stop violence on and around the pitch. Van der Burg proposed cancelling all amateur matches nationwide. A delegation from the Dutch football association visited Buitenboys on Tuesday to discuss "a fitting way to pay tribute" to Nieuwenhuizen and express support for the club. Nieuwenhuizen's death came almost exactly a year after a Dutch amateur footballer fatally kicked a 77-year-old supporter following a match. Last week a district court in Amsterdam sentenced the player, identified only as Silvester M, in line with Dutch privacy law, to three years in prison.