Toros Kibritjian: Sparkling dialogue referee vs coach

One of the finest American referees, Toros Kibritjian, has passed away at 90. Kibritjian was a FIFA game official in his day and worked the middle in games in the North American Soccer League and Major Indoor Soccer League, among other competitions. He was the referee of the 1977 Soccer Bowl between the New York Cosmos and the Seattle Sounders, which was Pele’s final competitive match. Kibritjian also was an assistant referee for a World Cup qualifying match between El Salvador and Guatemala with another respective U.S. referee, Gino D’Ippolito working the middle. Both men were selected to work the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, but they never traveled to the Soviet Union due to the U.S. Olympic boycott initiated by President Carter.
In his self-published autobiography, Quest for the Cup, Kibritjian wrote about his background. He was born in Aleppo, Syria. Kibritjian wrote that he came from a family of “soccer enthusiasts.” His father played soccer in Turkish-occupied Armenia before World War I. Kibritjian emigrated to the U.S. in 1954 on a student visa and joined a Boy Scout troop and played soccer. When his visa expired, he was to return to Syria, but his aunt adopted him “and kept me in this country as her son, for which I am grateful,” Kibritjian wrote. Beyond his refereeing ability, Kibritjian also was known for getting fired from his full-time job as an MISL referee in 1986, due a passage in the book. He wrote about a confrontation with Chicago Sting head coach Willy Roy during a 1985 playoff game between Chicago and the Cleveland Force. Here is what Kibritjian wrote in the book: “During the game, every time I passed in front of the Chicago bench, Willy Roy would say, “Toros, you’re a gangster. Toros, you’re a disgrace. Toros, you’re a star, Hollywood star.” Then, like a thunderstorm, he would shower me with nouns such as “cheater, homer, animal,” including “son of a bitch” (with a smile) and many more. Finally, he could not stand my silence any longer. He asked for an official timeout in the fourth period. As I was signaling for a timeout, he rushed behind me and shouted, “I swear to you that you will never referee my team again.” I smiled and started moving away from him. He was not done with me yet. He continued, “I swear to you and promise you that you will never, ever referee in this league again. You are through, you are finished.” I slowly turned around and said, “Willy, thank you for your classy descriptions of my character, but let me tell you something. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and I will be going to church. I will pray for you. Let me warn you though, that anyone who tries to take the bread off my family’s table will be punished by God.” Immediately after the game the owner of the Chicago Sting made an announcement to the media along the following lines: Next year, either Toros is out of the Major Indoor Soccer League or the Chicago Sting may have to get out. Well, the next year has come and both Toros and Chicago Sting are in the MISL.”
MISL director of operations Jim Budish fired Kibritjian from his $30,000-a-year job as a fulltime referee. Bill Kentling was commissioner at the time. ”I can`t have it,” Kentling was quoted by the Chicago Tribune. ”Someone who has made the kind of remarks he did can`t be an objective official. He was terminated or dismissed because he jeopardized his impartiality and his objectivity as a referee by including certain comments in his book which did just that,” MISL director of operations Jim Budish told the Los Angeles Times at the time. “One of the things that a referee has to have above everything else is not just being impartial but the appearance of being neutral out there, of starting every game fresh. I can’t have a referee refereeing Chicago games when he has preconceived ideas about the ownership, the coaches or the players on that team. Taking that a step further, how can you have a guy officiate games which have a bearing on Chicago’s games?” Kibritjian gave his side to the Tribune. ”It must be a good review,” he said. ”In my opinion, they`re trying to show the other referees how to behave. If you can fire Toros, you can fire anyone. They told me that what I wrote is not a good image for the league. I didn`t write it for malice. I never held it against them [the Sting], but I knew they were out to get me. I just wanted to show the problems of referees at all levels.” Kibritjian eventually sued the league. After Kentling left his post as commissioner, Kibritjian returned to the league under commissioner Earl Foreman in 1989, during the latter’s second tenure in charge. Years later, Kibritjian authored his second book, My Life Between Playing Fields and Heaven.