Footballer Gets 70 Match Ban For Headbutting Referee

It looks like Luis Suarez has some serious competition on his hands.

The Uruguayan player was banned for four months after biting Italy's Giorgio Chiellini in the World Cup, but an Austrian amateur player has made that look like child's play after receiving an astonishing 70 game ban.

Ismail Gunduz, of Austrian fourth tier side SK Rum was shown a second yellow card in the 86th minute of a game against SPG Innsbruck West, in which his side was 3-2 down, and proceeded to headbutt the referee in anger. The official suffered a hugely cut lip and had to go the hospital; the game was abandoned.

He was immediately sacked by his club, with his former manager Michael Messner saying, "We distance ourselves from Ismail Gunduz's behaviour. He was thrown out of the club with immediate effect and has also been banned from stepping onto Rum's football ground."

Sporting director Matthias Waldegger added: "I hope that player will never find another club."

The player himself has said that, "This sentence is madness. I will do all I can to return to the pitch." He claims that it is a misunderstanding, and that he slipped on the pitch. Tirol Football Association, who gave out the ban, were unmoved with spokesman Horst Scherl stating 'The 70-match suspension is without precedent as far as we know, but it seemed proportionate to us given the gravity of the offence."

Despite the huge length, it could have been worse - the association's maximum ban is 108 games. He should probably consider this a slap on the wrist.

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[via ESPN]

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