SINGAPORE — A 31-year-old captain of an amateur football team was sentenced to four weeks’ jail on Monday (Sept 7) after pleading guilty to head-butting a player from another team during a match and fracturing his nose. 

Nicolas Amet Wen Cai admitted last week to voluntarily causing hurt to the other man, a 34-year-old Chinese national.

Players from both teams got into a heated argument at East Spring Secondary School in Tampines on Feb 17 last year.

A video of the altercation began circulating online shortly afterwards.

In the late afternoon of Feb 17 last year, Amet’s team FC138 played against another amateur team, Ranger United, in a friendly match held at the school. 

About five minutes before the game ended at 4.50pm, players from both teams began arguing over a foul from an FC138 player.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Derek Ee said that the goalkeeper for Ranger United ran towards the group of players and “did a jump-kick” at an FC138 player.

A short while later, the players started pushing one another on the pitch. 

Amet tried to protect his teammates by pushing away the Ranger United players. The referee stood a short distance from the commotion, telling them to stop fighting.

The scuffle became more heated when Amet and his victim stood face-to-face and swore at and shoved each other. 

DPP Ee said that Amet was no longer behaving defensively.

“Neither the accused nor the victim wanted to back off from the confrontation.

“Suddenly, the accused head-butted the victim on his face. The impact was hard and the victim fell to the ground,” the prosecutor said. 

When the other man began bleeding profusely and blacked out, Amet and his teammates fled.

The police arrived a few minutes later and the victim regained consciousness shortly afterwards.

An ambulance took the victim to Changi General Hospital where he was treated for a nasal bone fracture and a 3cm to 4cm cut on his right upper eyebrow.

He was discharged two days later. 

DPP Ee said that Amet admitted to head-butting the victim, adding that he was “feeling angry and agitated in the heat of the moment”. 

Last week, the prosecutor said that he is not seeking a compensation order because the victim or his team will be filing a civil lawsuit against Amet.

He could have been jailed up to two years or fined up to S$5,000, or punished with both.