The attempted suicide got major attention in the German media because it came just hours before the match he was scheduled to referee and the game had to be canceled.
German league referee Babak Rafati, 41, did not show up for a pre-match meeting of referee staff. His deputies broke into his hotel room and found him motionless in the bathtub with his wrists slashed and blood everywhere. Swift action by those men prevented his death. He is now hospitalized in satisfactory condition.
Police said the case appears to be an act of suicide. A suicide note was found in Rafati’s room.
“There was a lot of blood. That is all I can say; the other details should be spared,” said Theo Zwanziger, president of the German Football Federation (DFB).
Zwanziger said that after Rafati did not show up for breakfast and the pre-match meeting, his assistant referees got his hotel room opened and discovered him in the bathtub. He praised the assistant referees for their quick action. “I have to say, the three assistant referees saved Babak’s life.”
“It is an extraordinary situation, when one of our top referees makes a suicide attempt,” Zwanziger said.
Rafati has been a Bundes-liga referee for six years and has refereed about 200 matches in the top two leagues in Germany in addition to a several Champions League and Europa League matches.
The match between Cologne and Mainz Rafati was supposed to officiate was canceled as no other referee could be found on such short notice. Ironically, Rafati started his Bund-esliga career officiating a match between the same two teams in 2005.
Rafati has received heavy criticism in the past from German league players. The German sports magazine Kicker has also voted him the worst referee in the Bundesliga a few times.
This has led to speculation that Rafati committed suicide as a result of pressure from his job as a referee.
“One wonders why such a young man sees only hopelessness before him,” Zwanziger said.
“I can only offer that our referees are exposed to an incredible amount of pressure, and we have not managed to get things in the proper balance.”
Rafati’s job as a referee is only part-time; he works full-time as a banker, where he was also possibly facing pressures. Europe has been especially hit hard by the global recession, with European banks bearing a significant amount of pressure.
German soccer has become sensitive to pressure on players after national team goalkeeper Robert Enke committed suicide two years ago.
