Birmingham City’s derby with Aston Villa was marred this afternoon after a ‘fan’ ran onto the pitch and punched Jack Grealish.
The incident came after just nine minutes into the clash, when a hooligan in a flat cap threw a right-hook at unsuspecting player.
As stewards whisking the perpetrator off this field, he then blew a few kisses towards the fans in the stands like he thought he did the right thing. Some Birmingham fans even cheered him off.
Villa and Birmingham players then made sure their teammate was alright, who was walking away from what just happened looking somehow not hurt but maybe a mark on the face.
Watch the shocking moment for yourself in the video below…
Fan attacking Grealish from behind. That is absolutely disgraceful… #avfc pic.twitter.com/ItheszrF5P
— Ian DW (@sportdw) March 10, 2019
Commentators on Sky Sports’ televised fixture were furious with what they were witnessing.
They said: “There’s an idiot on the field. This is disgraceful.
“A fan has run onto the field and physically attacked Jack Grealish.
“An utter disgrace.
“There are some lines that should not be crossed and Jack Grealish has done extraordinary well to stay calm there.
“Words just absolutely fail me. What an absolutely disgrace.
“Absolute disgrace to see anything like than on a football field and the way Grealish acted, fair play to him.”
“He was probably going to play another 30 seconds after the restart but he decided that was that.”
Former footballer Lee Hendre spoke at half time, saying that the game should have been abandoned and that a fine should definitely be given, but even a possible points deduction.
Hendrie also said: “If you were a Birmingham City fan you’d be embarrassed by that” along with “that was the worst thing I’ve seen on a football pitch”. He also said “what if he broke his jaw, that’s one key player that is out of your side straight away, the game has got to be abandoned!”
Along with that he spoke of it being a hostile place but you don’t expect to see what happened, a mentioned the recent knife-crime that has been in the news lately and how anything could have unfolded.
Gary Rowett added: “That fan shouldn’t be allowed back into society” and also stated that he “should never been allowed into another football match for the rest of his life or even back into society with that type of attitude”.
He also said: “It’s difficult for the club, it is difficult, you could look at areas and the stewards, it’s so hard nowadays, to stop, you know due to no fencing, you want the fans to be safe, because there is a lot more of them than there are the players. At the same time, it takes the protection away from the pitch. like we discussed when we were on air, the players, referees, managers, officials, we’ve got to be so careful because it’s starting to more and more prevalent.”
West Midlands Police have arrested him and was on route to a custody block almost 20 minutes after the unbelievable scenes.
ARREST: Following the incident on the pitch involving an attack on an Aston Villa player; a man has been arrested and en route to a custody block. Further details to follow. pic.twitter.com/fed9KrHBgl
— West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) March 10, 2019
Football fans gave their reaction to the video – check out what they had to say on the next page.
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