A children’s soccer game descended into violence when the fathers of the young players decided the game was a good time to get into a violent brawl that would send several people to the hospital for treatment.
This is the shocking moment a children’s football match descended into violence when parents of boys from rival teams started brawling on the touch line.
Several people were left needing hospital treatment when a pitch-side row among dads escalated into a fist fight at a game involving youngsters aged 12 and 13 on the Spanish island of Majorca.
Footage taken by a shocked spectator showed the parents punching and kicking each other – ignoring the anguished screaming of mothers who were horrified at what they were seeing and trying to protect children at the scene.
The game had to be suspended and police are now investigating the violent clash.
According to some news reports, some of the children were already fighting when the adults joined in. Soccer seems to be the only sport that’s more dangerous to watch than to play. Alaro and away side Collerense were the two teams playing that Sunday afternoon of the brawl.
The normally peaceful town of Alaro, an inland village tucked away in the west of the island, is described in holiday brochures as a place with ‘rustic, authentic appeal’ and a far cry from the resorts along the coast nearby.
Several parents are understood to have invaded the pitch after a bad tackle by one of the players, some to voice protests at the foul and attend to the child that was lying on the grass after being upended and others to try to calm frayed tempers.
Horrified mums could be overheard on the video shouting ‘shame on you, shame on you’ as the dads starting squaring up to each other by one of the goalmouths while another yelled: ‘Get that boy out of here. He’s a minor.’