Non-league football fan threatens to stab players and gets thrown out as match halted

A non-league football match was forced to be suspended after a supporter threatened to stab players from the opposing team on Saturday.

The encounter between Hallam FC - the second-oldest association football club in the world - and Albion Sports was brought to a halt in the final minutes of the game.

With the score at 2-2, tempers flared after Hallam raged at the assistant referee when the flag was raised against their player, with manager Andy Emsley sent to the stands for his protests.

Shortly after the incident, a tweet from Hallam FC's official X account reported a fan had threatened to attack players from Albion.

An eyewitness at the game claimed to have overheard the person saying “I’ll stab you in the head” to a player. 

"The game is stopped as an Albion fan is threatening to stab Hallam players," the post read.

It is not yet known what prompted the fan to issue such threats, or if they were carrying a weapon. But the referee had no option but to suspend play while security removed the man.

Minutes later, another tweet was posted from the account adding that Albion club staff "did a brilliant job in removing the person involved."

Albion's own account did not refer to the incident, only mentioning that there had been a "long pause in play."

The game did eventually resume around two minutes later and it finished with the same scoreline, but the incident somewhat overshadowed the occasion.

West Yorkshire Police are yet to comment on whether the incident will be investigated or if an arrest was made.

The incident will likely be included in the referee's report, meaning the Football Association and clubs could take action to ban the inidividual, who has not been identified.