The Spanish Referees' Technical Committee (CTA) has expressed its outrage at Spanish eighth division side CD San Luis for standing by a player who attacked a referee during a regional game on Sunday.
With the score at 2-2 in the 77th minute, referee José Antonio Berdasco was attacked by CD San Luis player José Álvarez Esteban after the official had awarded a penalty to UD Llanera B.
Álvarez was shown a straight red after striking the referee on the head, knocking him to the ground before kicking him.
After the game, CD San Luis said in a statement that not only did it "not condemn the aggression" which they claimed had been encouraged by "the refereeing decisions that went against them" but that it would "support" their player and "therefore not suspend him."
Spain's CTA condemned the brutal attack suffered by the referee and said in a statement: "The incident itself is unacceptable, as is the subsequent reaction of the aggressor's club, which failed to condemn its player's actions and even justified his violence. The CTA expresses its full support for the referee who was assaulted and offers its assistance should he need it."
The Asturias Football Federation also criticised CD San Luis and said: "The Asturian Federation is appalled to see one of its member clubs justify and applaud a violent act, which directly contradicts the spirit and ethics of sport and the values our federation upholds. We consider it extremely serious that a club, through an official statement, incites and legitimizes violence against referees."
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Hours later, CD San Luis issued another statement, this time condemning the violent act by their player.
The club said its president, José Luis Blanco Antón, had sacked with immediate effect the club's general secretary, Alejandro Blanco Gonzalez, "given the seriousness of the allegations he had made" after the game.
Blanco Gonzalez is the son of the club president.