Russian footballer attacked by linesman gets four-game ban

Moscow, May 1 (IANS/RIA Novosti) A young footballer who was assaulted by a linesman was banned for four games Tuesday for swearing at his attacker.

Ilya Krichmar, 18, was shoved to the ground and kicked by assistant referee Musa Kadyrov, who was banned from the game for life Monday.

Amkar Perm left-back Krichmar had been accused of insulting Kadyrov's mother before the attack, which happened seconds after the final whistle blew in a Premier League reserves game in Chechnya Friday.

His punishment is a four-game ban and a $480 fine for "insulting behaviour directed at a match official", the FA said in a website statement.

The attack by Kadyrov sparked a scuffle between players from both teams. From Amkar's opponents Terek Grozny, one player, Apti Akhyadov, has been banned for four games for "aggressive behaviour", the Russian FA said.

The incident is the second football-related scandal to hit Chechnya in the space of a month, after regional government head Ramzan Kadyrov, not understood to be a relation to the linesman, branded a Russian Premier League referee "bought" over the public address system during a Terek game.

Terek were fined for that outburst, and also ordered to play one home game at a neutral ground as punishment for Ramzan Kadyrov confronting the same referee after the game.

Cases of football players being attacked by referees or linesmen are rare - the opposite is more often the case.

Thursday, Indonesian striker Pieter Rumaropen was banned for life for hospitalising a referee with a punch to the face, while last month a Lebanese referee said he feared for his life as angry players chased him following a red card.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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