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Outrage as parents beat coach, 17, in soccer row

Jessica Jones
Jessica Jones - [email protected]
Outrage as parents beat coach, 17, in soccer row
A 17-year-old youth team coach has been attacked by parents near Barcelona. Screen grab: Futboldinámico/YouTube

A shocking video has emerged showing a mob of angry parents invading the pitch and attacking a teenage football coach during a youth league game in Catalonia.

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It is universally acknowledged that Spaniards love the beautiful game, but things turned ugly at a recent match between two youth teams near Barcelona when angry parents stormed the pitch and beat up a young coach.

Imaar Namid, the 17-year-old coach of youth team Molins de Rei, managed by Daniel Gavito, was attacked during a match with Cornellà de Llobregat at the Fontsanta Fatjó pitch.

The video of the attack, which occurred on March 29th, has just been released and shows angry parents whistling and swearing, before leaping over the barrier and storming the pitch. 

They then circled the young trainer and beat him to the ground, surrounding him and kicking him.

The video clip shows more and more father's going to join in, leaping over the barrier onto the pitch to join in the fray.

The attack was prompted by Namid running onto the pitch to break up a scuffle between two players who had got into a fight, director of Molins de Rei Alberto Martínez explained to The Local.

"Our trainer suffered bruising from the kicks but has now recovered," Martínez said.

"Emotionally, yes he's more affected and he doubts whether he will work the next season," he added. 

Martínez does not believe the motive behind the attack was racism. 

"The football team should be banned from the league," wrote one commenter under the video, which was uploaded to YouTube on April 27th. 

Another commenter said that it was shameful how the parents had behaved and would not be surprised if their children go on to beat people up, having those parents as an example. 

The fight was soon broken up and the coach decided not to press charges against the parents, not having suffered any serious injuries.

Molins de Rei football team said they wanted to "publicly denounce the actions" by making the video public so that they "would not happen again".

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