A teenager was left with horrific injuries to his face after he was allegedly punched by an opponent during an U15s football match.
Lewis Fenwick was playing for Burscough Dynamo against Southport Trinity at Holy Trinity Sports Ground on Roe Lane in Southport when just 10 minutes into the match he was reportedly hit. The 15-year-old suffered a broken eye socket, fractured nose and nerve damage to his face when he claims a Southport Trinity player hit him in the side of the head.
Merseyside Police were called to the scene after the match was abandoned by the referee. Lancashire FA, which initially took the decision to ban Lewis' alleged attacker for three matches, has launched an investigation into the incident.
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Lewis' mum, Lucy, was on the touchline watching as the incident unfolded. She said: "I know he's only 15 but if he's big enough to do that and cause that damage to someone on a football pitch [then] he is no better than the thugs on the street."
Lewis added: "I went up to the ref to say it was a bad foul. This lad shouted 'eff off' and came up to me and said he would ‘chin me up'."
He continued: "I pushed him away and he came up with a forceful push. I looked away and he just hit me. I was in shock, I couldn’t feel anything, I couldn’t feel my body. I didn't have a clue what was going on. I thought I had been headbutted at first."
Following meetings with a police family support officer, dad Andy said: "He is pretty much an adult. We didn't want him to go to jail, but if we don't teach kids not to do something like that, you're basically teaching them to do wrong.
"I couldn’t live with myself if we didn’t pursue this and then in a few years’ time hear about an incident where someone has been really badly injured or worse in Southport town centre and it turns out to be the same lad."
The teen now finds it painful to eat and talk as well as being left upset and angry by what happened, the Daily Star reports. He said: "I have never seen anything like that happen on a football pitch. I think I’ll be scared to play again if the ball goes near my face. I think he should be banned.”
A Merseyside Police spokesperson said: "We can confirm that officers are investigating following an assault at a youth football match in Southport. At around 10.30am on Saturday 14 January, officers attended the report of an assault of a 15-year-old boy by another boy following an altercation between football teams at a match at Holy Trinity Sports Ground in Roe Lane.
"The victim sustained a fractured eye socket and fractured nose, as well as nerve damage. The game was ended by the referee as a result and the investigation continues. Anyone with information can contact us @MerPolCC with reference 23000040735."
Lewis was taken to Ormskirk Hospital and later to Alder Hey Children's Hospital where he underwent a CT scan and a series of X-rays. He's missed several weeks of school and won't be allowed to play football again until March at the earliest.
Lucy said her son already suffers from anxiety due to his hearing problems and is now worried the incident has set him back further.
"Lewis didn't want to come out of the house for the first five days," she said. "Every time someone knocked on the door to come and see him he was in a panic. He wanted to move, he said 'I don't want to be here, I want to move away, what if I see him again and I'm on my own?'"
Dad Andy added: “I didn’t see it but I heard the noise of a punch. That fleshy sound. Two of our parents ran across and then I realised it was Lewis. He was walking with his hands on his head. His nose was bleeding and you could see the damage to his face already.”
A spokesman for Southport Trinity said the club were making statements to Lancashire FA amid claims their player was subject to verbal abuse prior to the incident. He said the player was banned from training with his teammates for two weeks.
A spokesperson for Craven Minor Football League said they could not comment due to the active police investigation. And a spokesperson for Lancashire FA said the investigation is ongoing.
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