Fan Narcs on Henrik Larsson, Police Investigate his Punching Opponent

By: Bob | August 21st, 2006

It wasn’t supposed to be end this way for Henrik Larsson. After a distinguished career in Scotland and Spain, the forward returned to his hometown club Helsingborgs IF to play his final days in front of adoring fans in Sweden.

Larsson is now being investigated by Swedish police after a fan filed a complaint that Larsson hit Elfsborg player Jon Jonsson in a match on Saturday.

“A private individual who was watching the match was shocked at what took place between Henrik Larsson and Jon Jonsson,” Mats Olsson, a police spokesman, told AFP. “The prosecutor Sven-Erik Ahlem has asked that the case be investigated, that’s all, and that will be the responsibility of the local court in Helsingborg.”

We’re all in favor of issuing a citizen’s arrest, heck we tried it to no avail on our drunken neighbor this weekend, but this seems a bit ridiculous. Larsson’s punch, seen clearly here in the video (you have to watch an Ikea commercial first), would be considered illegal on the football pitch and he probably should be punished by the football authorities.

But to make this an issue for the police is absurd. Every match sees its share of violence that probably would be considered assault if you did it to an Ikea employee, but that doesn’t mean it should end up in a courtroom.

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Lulu

Oh please! Look, it should be a police matter when it is something horrifying like that ice hockey thug who almost killed an opponent a few years ago (and Thugs-R-Us is allowed to play again, don't get me started on that rant!). But that 'punch' looked like something my cousins did to each other every summer at the lake. Seems to me that Larsson got tired of being dogged by his opposing actor, oops I mean player. Yeah, ban him for a few games, and give Jonsson an Oscar.

One hopes the local judiciary will throw this puppy out, and make the idiot 'fan' pay court costs for wasting valuable time and resources!
Wendall

Altogether too many s's. Larsson, Jonsson, Olsson. Didn't see the reaction after the punch, but the fact that Jonsson was still lying on the deck shows that he watched the World Cup with great interest and took notes on how to milk every contact.

Larsson should be punished based on the video evidence, but police action is ridiculous.