Ball Boy Gets His Ass Kicked By Soccer Player For Celebrating A Goal

Not every rivalry match is as internationally renown as Spain’s El Clásico or England’s North London Derby. Nevertheless, even the smallest of local derbies often include frankly ridiculous levels of feistiness and aggression. Which explains this video of a grown man pummeling a ball boy after taking offense to the ball boy’s celebration of his rival team’s goal during a match deep in the underbelly of Brazil’s soccer pyramid:

The above clip is taken from this weekend’s Clássico Comperário between relatively tiny clubs Comercial and Operário. As the video shows, the soon-to-be-assailed ball boy—who, according to Globo Esporte, himself plays for the home team’s youth side—was sent into raptures after Comercial scored what was the game’s only goal. Right as the match was set to end, Operário player Jefferson Reis decided that that was the perfect time to strike out against the exuberant kid for what Reis presumably saw as the kid’s unprofessional, provocative behavior. How Reis could see beating the hell out of a young person as an appropriate response is a question best left to Reis and his lawyers, but respond in that way he did.

Here’s a longer view of the fight, which goes on to show how the riot police on hand tried to bust up any potential bigger scrum between the two teams before one started, and offers a glimpse of the poor ball boy’s bloodied and reportedly broken nose:

Per the Globo Esporte report, the cops went into Operário’s dressing room after the match to arrest Reis, only to find that Reis had already left the stadium. The ball boy and his family later went to the police station to press charges against Reis. Which, good. Heated derby or not, smashing up the face of a happy kid is very bad. It’s just soccer, guys.