Brawl at football match lands two in hospital

A friendly football match on Sunday between two amateur sides ended on a bloody note, landing two players in hospital.

A video of the aftermath shows one of the players lying on the pitch in shock, blood dripping from his nose, as other players engage in a shouting match metres away, according to a report in The New Paper yesterday.

Players are seen arguing and shoving one another in the 19-second video, with at least one person hurling vulgarities and challenging others to a fight.

There are also shouts that the injury was caused by a headbutt.

The brawl happened at the East Spring Secondary School field in Tampines on Sunday.

The teams comprised players who were Singaporean, Singapore permanent residents and Chinese nationals, according to the report.

The referee for the match, a member of the Football Referees' Association of Singapore, told Channel NewsAsia that a fracas broke out after a player executed a "flying kick" on an opponent during the game.

A spokesman for the police said they were alerted to a case of voluntarily causing hurt at 30 Tampines Street 34 at about 5pm.

A video shared on social media shows players arguing and shoving one another after a fight broke out at a privately organised friendly football match at the East Spring Secondary School field in Tampines on Sunday.

Two men, aged 34 and 39, were taken conscious to Changi General Hospital.

Investigations are ongoing.

The pitch had been booked privately through ActiveSG, which manages several sports facilities under the Dual-Use Scheme, including the East Spring Secondary School field.

A spokesman for Sport Singapore, which oversees ActiveSG, said it was aware of the incident.

"It is a shame that what was presumably meant to be a fun game culminated in a physical dispute," the spokesman said.

"We are unable to release any further details as investigations are under way."

Former national footballer R. Sasikumar, 43, who runs a sports marketing firm, told The New Paper that violence on the pitch at social-sporting events has been a growing trend in recent years.

He said: "There's a lot of testosterone, and all it takes is a rough tackle and someone feels unfairly treated and decides to take things into their own hands.

"The players involved will live to regret their actions."

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 20, 2019, with the headline Brawl at football match lands two in hospital. Subscribe