A Danish hooligan

Saturday evening I was in Berlin (bizarrely having having dinner with a Swedish MEP, but that's another story) when the news came through of an extraordinary end to the European Championship qualifier between Denmark and Sweden. My dinner companion called his son who was at the game and couldn't believe what had happened....

In an exciting game, Denmark had fought back from 3-0 down to make it 3-3 when, in the 89th minute the referee, Herbert Fandel, sent off Denmark defender Christian Poulsen for hitting a Swedish player in an off-the-ball incident. He also awarded Sweden a penalty as the incident had taken place in the Danish penalty area. Immediately, a furious (and drunk) spectator ran on to the pitch and attempted to attack the referee. He was intercepted by Danish players and sent back to the stands but the referee was clearly stunned by the attempted attack and, after consulting with his assistants, walked off the pitch and abandoned the game with the penalty untaken. It is likely that Sweden will be awarded the game 3-0 which is a bit unfortunate for poor Northern Ireland who currently top the group - if Sweden get the three points, they will leapfrog N Ireland into top spot in the group.

The Danish fan who ran on to the pitch is quoted as saying at a court hearing that he had drunk 15 to 18 beers before the match and had little memory of the actual incident.

"It was incredibly stupid of me. I want to apologise to Denmark, Sweden and the referee for my inhuman behavior. People in Denmark hate me, but I have no feeling yet what the reaction in Sweden is, other than they of course believe I am an idiot."

Yep.

You can see the incident on the YouTube webiste at:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0WrDIMe42Q8