Video: Football linesman knocks out goalkeeper with sucker punch
A football linesman was arrested on Saturday after he knocked a goalkeeper unconscious during a match. The 34-year-old man from Haarlem was one of the officials during a match between Hoofddorp club VV UNO and S.V. Geel-Wit, a team from Haarlem. He was also a player for one of the Haarlem team's squads.
It all started around 4:30 p.m. after a conflict between the two teams escalated with only a few minutes left in the match. Several players exchanged blows, or blindsided their rivals, when video suggests the UNO goalkeeper steps in to try and break things up and briefly restrain one of his opponents.
It was at that moment that video shows the suspect running onto the pitch with his signaling flag. He drops the flag, sprints towards the goalkeeper from behind, and delivers a crushing blow with his right hand that sends the keeper straight to the ground.
"The suspect delivered a punch to a player which caused him to lose consciousness," police said in a statement. "The victim was taken to the hospital as a precaution, and there it appeared he was suffering from a concussion."
In the video, the victim lays motionless on the ground while his team frantically shouts for help. He was treated by paramedics and transported by ambulance to an area hospital.
The suspect was identified as both a linesman and a Geel-Wit player by Lennert Böhmer, the chairman of the Geel-Wit youth committee, according to an interview with ANP newswire.
"The board was seriously shocked by this event, and we are thus distancing ourselves from unsportsmanlike behavior and the violence on and off the field," the Geel-Wit board members said in a statement. "We will be in contact with UNO, the police and the [Dutch football association] KNVB to discuss the incident."
