Footballer 'knocks woman out with chair' in brutal Ibiza brawl
The footballer has since spoken out to give his version of events
A British footballer has been identified as the man who allegedly knocked a woman over with a chair during a shocking poolside brawl.
Yesterday (25 June), footage captured at Ibiza's Marco Polo Hotel in San Antonio showing two groups of holidaymakers fighting at the side of the swimming pool surfaced online.
In the clip a woman can be seen attempting to mediate between the two groups of lads when a man from one group flings a chair at the other guests, which hit the woman on the head.
The woman collapses to the ground by the side of the pool with onlookers rushing over to help her moments later.
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A second chair is then launched, knocking one of the men from the other group into the pool.
Watch a recording of the moment below:
The identity of the man who threw the initial chair has since been confirmed, with MailOnline revealing it was Oldham Athletic footballer Kian Harratt.
The 23-year-old striker had made headlines just weeks earlier after scoring the winning goal which secured Oldham promotion to League Two.
A witness to the chaos has since spoken out about the shocking incident, revealing that he was part of the group which Harratt and his friends had confronted.
Detailing the encounter in a post on Facebook, Brandon Watkins claimed that his group had confronted Harratt and his friends after they were causing disruption at the hotel pool.
"Five lads came to our hotel being n*bs around the pool splashing people throwing balls at women and one lad says 'what are you looking at' so he approaches me and I drop him," he wrote.
"They then start throwing chairs because they couldn't fight and everyone knows how slippy it is round a pool so stopping chairs hitting us I slip in the pool and that's what went viral."
Watkins added: "If they let me get back out the pool or got in with me then they would have been slapped again but they didn't they got kicked out. Everyone sat around the pool after was coming up to us shaking our hands and buying us drinks because the lads were b******s."
Harratt has since addressed the situation in a post on his own social media account, claiming that his group had jumped in to defend their friend from being attacked by the other group of men.
"I picked the chair up and threw it back and it accidentally hit the woman who as you can see went down," he wrote in the caption of a TikTok, which appeared to show the moments leading up to the altercation.
"I was very apologetic and I felt terrible," he continued, adding that he'd only intervened to stop his friend getting 'badly beaten up while he’s trying to enjoy his holiday'.
Vibra Hotels, who manage the hotel, told the Oldham Times: "The fight in the pool lasted less than three minutes since our corporate security at the hotel acted immediately.
"No chairs were thrown at any guests; the lady got in the middle, it seems that with the intention to stop the fight.
"The lady was asked by our security members if she wanted to report to the police and file a complaint, but she said she was okay and she did not want to, that she just slipped and she was fine, and she thanked our security members.
"It took less than three minutes for the incident to end since our security acted quickly, and as soon as they acted, the fighters left the pool area.
"It really is a shame for us and for our teams to have to deal with this kind of issue, especially when people are supposed to come on holiday to enjoy and have fun, and not to act in other ways."
Brenna Cooper