Just when you thought you have seen everything in football, a Brazillian referee comes up with a shocking moment when he pulled out a gun after he reacted to a dispute with the players. Gabriel Murta has been set to face disciplinary action after losing the plot during a lower-league match this weekend.
The referee has told the policeman that he reacted to the kicks and slaps he received from the players by racing to the changing room and returning back to the pitch with a firearm. Coincidently, a spectator captured this shocking footage that showed his fellow official restraining Murta as he held the gun in his hand on the pitch.
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There have been many cases in the South American football leagues where the referees would take the beating from the players for their incorrect decisions made in a match. But not in this case, as the referee decided not to take any none sense from the players and threatened to pull the trigger.
The incident happened at the weekend during a match in Belo Horizonte, which is Brazil’s sixth largest city and the capital of the state of Minais Gerais. It happened in a match between Brumadinho and Amantes da Bola – which literally translates as ‘Lovers Of The Ball.’
Giuliano Bozzano, who's heads the Referees’ Association in Brazil has come to Murta’s defence, claiming that the official felt threatened and went to look for the weapon to defend himself. The official could face suspension or a permanent ban and he was due to undergo a psychological assessment later today.
The video clip was captured on a mobile phone and the footage showed the player thought to have assaulted the ref running off the pitch as he sees the official storming towards him with the weapon in his hand. Luckily, the linesman stopped Murta in his tracks and one of the goalkeepers persuaded him to return back and leave the gun in the locker room.
"The Minais Gerais Football Federation has already summoned the referee and a psychologist to a meeting and I’m going to talk with him today,” Bozzano said.
"On the basis of that conversation and his account of events and the results of the psychological assessment I’ll decide what if any measures to take.”
"What’s happened is obviously not a common occurrence and I don’t want to rush into anything.”
"At the moment it happened he’s opted for getting his gun because in his view it was a question of controlling a situation."
