The Football Association is investigating an alleged assault on a referee that occurred during a nonleague match in London last weekend after video of the incident circulated on social media, though Metropolitan Police are yet to make any arrests.
In the short clip filmed by a spectator, the referee is seen being chased by dozens of individuals before being tripped, surrounded and kicked repeatedly.
The incident occurred at the New River facility in Wood Green during a cup final between two teams from the Turkish Community Football Federation. According to the Daily Mail, tensions boiled over into violence at the final whistle of a game in which the official sent off two players from the losing side.
In a statement issued on Twitter, the FA said: "Both @LondonFA and The FA condemn any assault on a match official and have offered support to the referee, following Sunday. The police are aware of the incident and a disciplinary process has been started."
Revealed: the shocking violence towards a referee, purportedly at a Sunday league match in London last weekend that @refsupportuk describe as "the worse assault on a match official we have seen on British soil". They are now demanding the FA allows a pilot of ref body/cams pic.twitter.com/48AiUV3zYE
— Dan Roan (@danroan) May 24, 2018
The Metropolitan Police added in a statement: "Police were called at 19:15hrs on Sunday, 20 May, to reports of an assault at a sports centre in White Hart Lane, N22.
"Officers attended and found a man with minor injuries - he declined first aid. The suspects had left the scene prior to police arrival.
"It was reported that the victim was surrounded and assaulted by several suspects. The victim did not want to assist the police with their enquiries. No arrests have been made. Enquiries continue."
An official from the Turkish Community Football Federation told the Mail that the referee emerged from the attack with "several bruises but thankfully suffered no breakage."
Martin Cassidy of charity Ref Support UK described the footage as "the worst video we've seen on British soil of an assault on a match official," and the organisation issued a fresh demand for all match officials to be fitted with cameras on their kits.
A unnamed individual at the Turkish Community Football Federation told the Mail: "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 [responsible]."