Player's dad 'punched to ground and kicked in head as he lay on touchline'

A kids football match descended into a horror show in Ireland this week as a brawl erupted that left a man seriously hurt in hospital.

The U17 match between St Pats and Mount Merrion had 10 minutes left to go at Rosemount Park, in the Dublin suburb of Dundrum, when a nasty tackle sparked the trouble.

The Irish Mirror reports that the fighting began as "the dad of one of the players tried to stop his son being kicked while lying on the ground by an opposing team member following a nasty tackle."

The man was then reportedly punched to the ground and kicked in the head as he lay on the touchline.

So serious were his injuries that an ambulance called to take him to hospital. With many of the players in tears and the police having been called, the referee took the choice to abandon the match.

"It was horrific," said Mount Merrion manager Barry Saul.

"In my 15 years of managing teams in the schoolboy league, I’ve never seen anything like what I witnessed at Rosemount.

“There’ll often be isolated incidents were two players square up to one another or there’s a punch thrown but this was 16-year-olds and parents on the sideline assaulted...

"Strong action is needed and that should include bans.”

Hundreds of fans watched the match, and the paper spoke to a witness who said, "What occurred was disgusting and could well have ended with a very serious injury or even worse occurring."

The victim was kept in overnight but left hospital - and will be making a statement to police, who have already recived statements from witnesses to the attack. The local league refused to make a statement since the investigation is still ongoing.

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