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In a moment of malice, a pitch invader punches a player. In an apparent attempt to join goal celebrations, another fan pushes an opposition player.
Key points:
- Three fans ran onto the field at three separate football matches in the UK
- Aston Villa's Jack Grealish was punched in the head and Manchester United defender Chris Smalling was pushed
- There was an earlier incident in the Scottish Premier League where a fan was shouting in the face of a player
Two incidents at football games in England overnight saw two supporters arrested for leaping out of their seats and coming into contact with players, albeit with different levels of force.
That these shameful incidents followed another instance of poor fan behaviour in Scotland on Friday night, when a fan also clambered out of the stands to confront an opposition player, combined to make for a distressing weekend in British football.
'Unacceptable and outrageous'
The first incident happened in the opening minutes of the second city derby at Birmingham City's St Andrews Stadium, one of English football's most intense rivalries.
A fan charged onto the field and caught Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish unaware, swinging a right arm and striking the side of his head.
"I was walking into position and then just felt a whack around the side of the face," Grealish said.
"Obviously there's rivalry and stuff in football but I don't think there's any place for that."
The intruder was quickly restrained by a stadium security official as several other Villa players rushed in to confront him early in the second-tier Championship game.
He was led away by police, blowing kisses to the crowd as he left.
West Midlands police said a 27-year-old man was arrested and will face questioning on suspicion of encroachment onto the pitch and assault.
"An attack on a player is completely unacceptable and outrageous," Superintendent Nick Rowe of the West Midlands Police said in a statement.
"The vast majority of people were well behaved but unfortunately the occasion has been marred by this."
The statement said that in total, there were four arrests for suspected assault or violent disorder relating to the match, which is one of the most heated rivalries in English football.
Grealish, 23, responded to the violence in the best possible way, scoring the only goal of the game with a sweet strike in the second half.
"I just tried to get on with my job," he said.
"To score the winner was unbelievable. After what happened in the first half I think it was set up for it."
'Absolute numpty'
Hours later in the rain of north London, after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored Arsenal's second goal from the penalty spot in a 2-0 Premier League victory over Manchester United, a supporter darted onto the field.
As he raced toward the celebrating Arsenal players, he pushed United defender Chris Smalling.
"It's obviously a concern with the one earlier today," United's Ashley Young told beIN Sports.
Metropolitan Police said a man had been arrested over the incident "on suspicion of common assault and pitch invasion".
Arsenal said the man would be banned from its games — home and away.
"We utterly condemn the behaviour of the individual who ran onto the pitch and approached Chris Smalling," Arsenal said in a statement.
"We would like to apologise to Chris and Manchester United, and are pleased that the individual was apprehended and arrested. We will be working closely with the Metropolitan Police in their investigation."
Arsenal manager Unai Emery said fans needed to show "respect", adding: "We don't want that."
In commentary, former United star Gary Neville simply described the fan as an "absolute numpty".
'It ruins the game'
Preceding these incidents in England, a fan ran onto the field and confronted a player in the Scottish Premiership match between Hibernian and Rangers in Edinburgh.
In Friday night's 1-1 draw, Rangers captain James Tavernier found himself face to face with a Hibernian fan who had jumped out of the notorious East Stand at Hibs' Easter Road home.
Stewards and police intervened quickly to remove the 21-year-old fan, whose behaviour was described as "reprehensible" and "unacceptable" by authorities.
The Scottish PFA was quick to condemn this incident, after a season in which Scottish football fan behaviour has been increasingly under the spotlight.
"We find ourselves at a loss for words after yet another incident at a football ground which has endangered the safety of one of our members," the statement read.
"We previously used the term 'Groundhog Day' and we can't believe we are back here discussing this topic again, just days after a bottle was thrown at a player during a match at Easter Road."
That incident relates to a match just six days prior at the same venue against Celtic, when a glass bottle was thrown at Scott Sinclair from the same section of the East Stand as the winger prepared to take a corner.
The PFA statement commended Tavernier's "calm handling" of the incident, and "welcomed" the words of Hibernian chief executive Leeann Dempster, who said "nothing is off the table" when it comes to sanctions against the guilty party.
"You don't want this in football, it ruins the game," Hibs striker Marc McNulty said after the match.
Scottish football has been marred by issues of sectarian violence and chanting for decades, but incidents appear to have escalated this season.
In a recent Edinburgh derby between Hearts and Hibs, former Hibernian manager Neil Lennon was hit by a coin, and later said he was "fed up of laughing off racism".
Scottish FA boss Ian Maxwell has condemned the spate of incidents, but said football could not solve the issue on its own.
"We have witnessed match officials and players hit by coins, sectarian singing at matches and abusive and threatening behaviour towards match officials, players, managers and coaching staff," he said.
"Football has a responsibility to take action. We must do all that we can under our current rules and engage with clubs to seek to eradicate such behaviour.
"This issue, however, is not one that football can solve on its own."
ABC/AP
Topics: sport, soccer, english-lower, english-premier, scotland-soccer, united-kingdom, england, scotland
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