Kuwait Football Referee Flips Out and Punches Player [VIDEO]

Kuwaiti referee Saad al-Fadhi took it personally when players from al-Nasr protested at what looked like an uncontroversial decision to award a late penalty to their opponents al-Arabi in stoppage time, giving them the chance to secure a late equaliser.

When al-Nasr players surrounded the ref, al-Fahdi felled No11 Abdulaziz Farraj with a left hook - then kicked the same player for good measure. He then brandished a red card, sending off the dumbfounded player. In the ensuing melee, al-Fahdi waved the red card at another al-Nasr player. Still not finished, he ambled across to the bench, shaking his card at assorted sheikhs.

Despite all the fuss al-Arabi eventually converted the penalty, levelling the score at 1-1. At the restart, al-Nasr's centre forward Zabn al-Enazi lashed the ball straight at the ref, who promptly sent him off - provoking yet more protests and a further flurry of reds. So many al-Nasr players were sent off that the scoreline defaulted to a heavy away win - the final score was recorded as 4-1, despite only two goals having been scored.

In England players have often come under fire for crowding round the referee uttering expletives; perhaps rather than being punished al-Fahdi could be held up as an example of what might happen if a player decided to push his luck - and the referee's patience - a bit too far. Somehow, though, it's hard to imagine any English referee deciding to give Wayne Rooney or Daniel Agger a bit of a slap - look how Paul Alcock reacted when given a tiny shove by Paulo Di Canio back in 1998.

Whatever punishment comes al-Fadhi's way following his moment of madness, he should probably think himself lucky he didn't try attacking a player in Brazil. In June this year a referee called Otavio da Silva sent off a player called Josenir Abreu. When Abreu protested at the decision da Silva produced a knife and stabbed him to death, whereupon the player's enraged family stoned the referee, quartered his body and stuck his severed head on a stake in the middle of the field.

Watch the Kuwait incident unfold on the YouTube clip below: