Football ref attack: 'The worst assault of an official seen on British soil'

A league official has said in a statement that an investigation is set to be launched. Photo / @alex_dibble

A shocking attack on a referee that was caught on camera has been described as 'the worst assault on British soil'.

During a match between two Turkish teams in north London on Sunday, footage shows match official, Fernando Lopes, being brutally assaulted by dozens of players from both teams.

The violent attack was filmed at the New River facility in Wood Green during a cup final contested by two teams from the Turkish Community Football Federation.

The match is understood to have been a Cup final in which the referee sent off two players towards the end of the game. At the final whistle, Lopes was beset upon and hounded by a mob of players and supporters from one team.

The five-second video footage that was released on Twitter shows the match official for the final being chased, reportedly at full-time, by players and coaches from both teams but according to talkSPORT, one team is believed to be primarily responsible.

As the official looks to evade his pursuers, he is met by a player wearing orange, who brings him to the ground before a savage attack his launched on him. Players surrounded the referee and began to kick him repeatedly.

'It is definitely the worst video we've seen on British soil of an assault on a match official,' said Martin Cassidy of Ref Support UK.

The match in question was the final of the London Turkish League Federation Cup, which saw Dumlupinar Yeni Malatya Spor beat GS FC 2-1, who also met in the Excellence Mortgage Division 1 earlier in the season.

Reports suggest the attack was launched after Lopes dismissed calls for two penalties by the GS players and supporters in the dying minutes of the game.

An official from the from the Turkish Community Football Federation told Sportsmail that the referee, an official for the London Football Association (LFA) for the past 11 years, was left with 'several bruises but thankfully suffered no breakages.'

The London Metropolitan Police confirmed to Sportsmail that they were called to the scene at 7.15pm on Sunday, May 20, to respond to an assault at a sports centre.

However, the suspects had fled the scene by the time police arrived and the referee, aged 28, declined to press charges or make an official allegations. The police internal report recorded Lopes had minor injuries.

The Turkish Community Football Federation intend to haul the team into a meeting on Tuesday in which they want to kick the club out of the league and ensure those involved are banned for life.

A league source said: 'As a league we are looking into footage. We want them out. It's disgusting and we condemn it. We are not having it. We want life bans once we can prove who did it. The police were called.

'As far as concerned by the league. we aren't having them. Our referee secretary has spoken to the referee several times. The official doesn't want the attention. We will see what he needs in terms of care and we have told him what we want to do in terms of banning the team.

'This is not the norm for us. We have heard of verbal abuse but we are strict about that and I don't know how it happened. It came from nowhere. It's horrible. Every committee member wants them out. This is an adult league for the Turkish community in Britain that has been in play for over 40 years.'

The availability of the footage has also fuelled Ref Support UK's demands for all match officials to now be fitted with cameras on their kits.

Cassidy said: 'This would have just been kept in house and logged within the FA as another assault on a match official. That is not good enough.'

The police and the Football Association have been informed of the incident, with the FA to conduct an investigation of their own into the incident.