Boxer jailed over attack that left a soccer referee with a broken jaw after a game in Australia

By Canadian Press on February 26, 2025.

SYDNEY (AP) — An amateur boxer has been jailed for assaulting a match referee at a suburban Sydney soccer game in Australia almost two years ago.

Adam Abdallah was filmed violently assaulting match official Khodr Yaghi after an April 2023 match at Padstow in southwest Sydney. The incident began with a verbal altercation, during which Yaghi tapped the boxer with the 40-centimeter (16-inch) assistant referee flag he was holding.

The 26-year-old Abdallah pleaded guilty in September to one count of reckless grievous bodily harm. He was jailed Wednesday for at least one year and two months during his sentencing hearing in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court.

Initially restrained and led away by his friends during the fracas, Abdallah then returned swinging at the referee, knocking him to the ground. Yaghi was hospitalized as a result of the incident, losing four teeth and suffering two fractures to his jaw.

Abdallah shouldn’t have been at the game venue because he was suspended by the league at the time.

Judge Nicole Noman said Yaghi instigated the violence, but Abdallah then launched into a “cowardly” attack involving multiple blows that landed while the referee was defenseless on the ground.

“This was an extreme and senseless offense that occurred in public at a sporting game with significant physical injuries,” Judge Noman said. “The footage shows his gusto in punching and kicking the victim.”

In the wake of the incident, the Bankstown District Amateur Football Association began a trial of referees using body cameras in its senior men’s matches.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

The Associated Press