Footage of the incident showed several men attack a young player
Police have issued an appeal for information after an assault at playing fields in Newtownabbey.
The incident took place at around 3pm yesterday, Saturday, November 29, following a football match at Mallusk Playing Fields.
It is understood the assault took place at the playing fields’ changing rooms after a match between Kelvin Old Boys FC’s under-21s team and Westland Young Men. Footage of the incident shared on social media showed several men attack a young player.
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Posting on social media, a spokesperson for Kelvin Old Boys FC alleged the game “started to turn ugly” on the pitch before continuing after the match.
They said: “Today our U21’s took on Westland Young Men in a BDFL Cup game. Despite it being senior men against U21 year old lads the boys put in a fantastic performance and were winning the game.
“The game then started to turn ugly with Westland Young Men putting in dirty challenges that started to frustrate our lads and also our management team.
“Our management team had words with the ref about the challenges and that things were going to get out of hand if he didn’t start to do something about it, the ref then commented and said it was the same with this team last week.
“What happened next was a total disgrace as some players from the Westland Young Men team started to beat some of our lads, not just at the end of the game but also continued to do so when back at the changing rooms.
“This is an absolute disgrace and no team should get away with this, especially if it’s an ongoing reoccurrence from the same team. The club will be taking this further to ensure that our lads are never in a position like this again.”
A spokesperson for Westland Young Men FC said: “The committee of Westland YM FC are aware of the videos circulating social media regarding todays match. This is not an accurate representation of todays events.
“The club will make an official statement in due course.”
A PSNI spokesperson said: “Police in Newtownabbey are appealing for information in relation to an assault which took place around 3pm yesterday (29/11/2025). This followed a football match at Mallusk Playing Fields.
“Anyone who witnessed this assault, which took place at the changing rooms, should contact Police on 101 quoting reference 1381 29/11/25.”
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