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Brawl erupts at youth football tournament

Brawl erupts at football match
Brawl erupts at football match

A young footballer was knocked out when a pitchside brawl erupted during a Sunday afternoon tournament.

Ambulance crews and police were called to Cobdown Sports Club in Ditton when violence broke out during an Under 16s match on Sunday, June 20.

It is believed players and parents were involved in the incident.

An eyewitness described how one of those involved tried to leave the ground in a car but were blocked in deliberately by another driver until police arrived.

A Kent FA spokesman said it was disappointed with the weekend's incident, especially as it comes amid good work being done to create more respect within the local game.

Stephanie Gadd, a football development officer at the Kent FA, said she had worked to get all the local Kent leagues signed up to the national Respect programme.

Audio: Stephanie Gadd explains that such pitch-side abuse is rare

This aims to foster better relationships between officials players and spectators and root out violence and abuse.

She said: "The hope is to completely eradicate incidents of this nature. Obviously football is an emotional game and you're never going to get rid of that passion and you wouldn't want to, but at the same time there are things that we can do to address unnecessary poor behaviour but it's all about educating people and it's a long-term programme.

"As far as last weekend's game is concerned the referee's report is currently being studied at the Kent FA."

It would be dealt with along disciplinary lines, bearing in mind the two players involved were under 16.

Were you at the match or did you see it happen? E-mailmultimediadesk@thekmgroup.co.ukto tell us what happened.

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