“The concern would be if he is willing to show this level of violence over something so minor he would be a constant threat on bail to members of the community,” the police prosecutor said.
Now details of Abdallah’s vile threat to the referee has been released, with the police’s statement of facts saying it is alleged Abdallah “turned to the victim and said ‘I’m going to f*** your mum and sister’.”
Abdallah then allegedly charged at Yaghi, knocking him to the ground before grabbing his shirt and unleashing a sickening, sustained assault.
Onlookers yelled: “Get off him, get off him,” and other players pulled the assailant off the ref, sparking a wild melee.
Yaghi emerged bleeding from the scrap, appearing distressed as he held his badly-broken jaw.
The court was told the referee used a sideline flag to defend himself from Abdallah.
Abdallah’s defence lawyer said his client suffered bruising to his head as a result of being hit with the “stainless steel” flag.
The court ruled that despite Abdallah’s background of ADHD and “other issues”, the risk was too great to release him on bail.
Despite the sickening attack, referee Yaghi says it won’t stop him from getting back onto the field.
“No f**king way will this stop me. Never. I’m going to referee till I die,” he told the Telegraph via text message.
He said his attacker was a suspended player and “referees didn’t do any mistakes”.
After the shameful attack, Greenacre announced that their first-grade team was leaving the competition.
“As a result of the incident that occurred following the conclusion of the match, our club has made the decision to withdraw the team from the competition for the remainder of the 2023 season,” the club said in a statement.
“This serves as a reminder to all that violence will not be tolerated at our club.”
