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Football Team's Chairman Brings Gun On Pitch To Complain To Referee

Football Team's Chairman Brings Gun On Pitch To Complain To Referee

An arrest warrant has been issued for Savvidis but it's only for the pitch invasion and, you know, not for the gun he was carrying

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Referees tend not not be popular figures in football. Even during an under-sixes match, most of us will have seen and heard a 'passionate' dad hurl abuse at the ref from the side lines. In a word, it's embarrassing.

You've probably also witnessed the odd occasion when a team's coach gets so riled up that they get a bit too close with a match official after a particular decision is made. But they know full well that any belligerence will only result in further punishment.

Spare a thought, though, for Greek football club PAOK chairman Ivan Savvidis, who is seemingly unconcerned by any of that.

PA

His team was denied a late goal against AEK Athens yesterday, which would have handed them a win. When the decision was made, fans launched onto the pitch to complain and Savvidis wasn't far behind.

However, he wasn't just carrying a load of angry words, but also what appeared to be a firearm.

According to Spanish sports newspaper Marca, the club owner walked up to the match official and yelled: "Your career as a referee has ended."

As the chaos kicked off, AEK Athens players went into their changing rooms to ensure they didn't get clocked from behind by a particularly passionate fan. Sky Sports says the AEK players stayed there for two hours and refused to come out, with the game eventually being declared officially abandoned.

PA
PA

At the time, AEK boss Manolo Jimenez told broadcaster OndaCero: "Right now we are leaving the stadium escorted by the police.

"The referee has invalidated the goal of PAOK for offside, there was a brawl of players and many people entered the field, including their president with bodyguards.

"After the invasion, the referee has gone inside and after two hours wanted to resume. We said no. The shame is that in the end the referee has given them the goal, after all that has happened."

Just to clarify, the referee definitely didn't hand POAK the goal, despite them claiming on Twitter that they won, and the game ended at 0-0.

Skai TV reports an arrest warrant has been issued against Ivan Savvidis as well as four other people. Funnily enough, the warrant has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Savvidis was carrying a firearm but simply because of the pitch invasion.

Greece has some pretty strict rules around gun ownership and one place that you're definitely not allowed to have a weapon is a stadium - not even police can carry guns.

It's certainly one way to send a message that you're upset with a decision.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: SPORT, Greece, World News, News, Football, Europe