French footballer banned - for 25 years - for punching ref

Orlans - A French amateur footballer was banned from playing for 25 years on Friday after he punched a referee with officials describing the attack as "intolerable and unacceptable".

The referee was attacked in a regional fourth-tier reserve game on February 2.

"We battle against violence every weekend. With this decision, we hope that club presidents will act. It must not happen again, it is intolerable, unacceptable," Bernard Bourillon, the local football chief of the Loiret district, told AFP.

The footballer, who was not named, plays for the Sermaises team.

Two of his team-mates who "threatened and intimidated" the referee were handed suspensions of two and three years while the reserve team was kicked out from the tournament for the rest of the season.