A junior football match descended into violence after a referee sent off parents at the weekend, the incident which occurred at Blackburn Central High School involving 2 U16s teams on Saturday sparked calls for police to attend

Police said they were called to the incident at around 10.50am after a fight broke out between approximately 20 people including both adults and children.

The incident at the school off Haslingden Road has also been reported to the Lancashire FA. Police said no arrests were made but several people were spoken to after the incident.

A police spokesman said: “A fight broke out at a youth football game between two local teams, It was a public order offence and around 20 people both adults and children were involved. Three people were identified by police and had to be spoken to about the incident, No arrests have been made at this stage.”

On the Bolton, Bury and District Football League the match is listed as abandoned. The incident has been reported to the Local County FA and we understand there is a police investigation ongoing.

At this time we cannot comment further on the incident however we will update in due course.

Today’s reports are rare in comparison to the number of games played without incident. Although incidents of verbal abuse are currently at unacceptable levels and much more work needs to be addressed in this area, the reported levels of violence remains extremely low.

We know a lot of parents are passionate when watching their child play, and sadly that passion can manifest into incidents where referees have been verbally abused or anger has flared between parents.
This kind of behaviour can not and should not be condoned – however it is extremely rare to view extreme violence at a grassroots football match and there are a lot more positives associated with grassroots football that unfortunately does not get the coverage it deserves.