It’s the ugly side of the beautiful game we all hope disappears.
But, unfortunately, there were violent scenes in England on Saturday as Nottingham Forest beat rivals Derby County 2-1 in the Championship, the second-tier of English soccer.
Derby were leading 1-0 until late in the game when Forest launched a remarkable comeback to win 2-1 over their local rivals.
Following the full time whistle, one Derby fan ran onto the pitch and appeared to jump into the back and push Forest defender Kelvin Wilson in an alleged attack. A brawl then ensued between Forest players and the man, who was subsequently arrested and charged with suspicion of pitch encroachment.
It has since been revealed in this report by the BBC that a car owned by Forest’s chairman Fawaz Al Hasawi had its tires slashed and license plates stolen, as the highly-charged atmosphere inside Derby’s iPro stadium boiled over with the hosts chasing promotion to the Premier League while Forest had won just two of their previous 20 matches.
Below is a video from the wife of Forest’s American defender Eric Lichaj, which clearly shows the man arrested running onto the pitch and jumping into Wilson.
Here’s hoping that players get the protection they deserve on the pitch, as we do not want to see scenes like this in soccer on a regular basis.
