BOBIGNY (France), Feb 10 — A brawl at a Sunday youth football match near Paris ended with one person airlifted to hospital with stab wounds and France’s football federation saying it would file a legal complaint.
Fighting broke out after a gang of armed youths attacked a stadium where Dammarie-les-Lys’s under-20s team were hosting suburban Paris rivals Meaux.
The players were breaking for half-time when locals from Dammarie-les-Lys assaulted Meaux’s players.
“It seems that in the scuffle, one of the attacked players stabbed an assailant,” a police source told AFP.
“As a result, the others were out to get them and two players jumped into the Seine.”
Police arriving at the scene had to rescue one of the two, who could not swim. They took in both players for questioning.
The stabbing victim was flown to a Paris hospital by helicopter in a serious condition.
The French Football Federation condemned the violence in a statement and said it had filed a legal complaint against persons unknown. — AFP
