First climb, then boxing
Footballer knocks down fan with punch
April 26, 2026 – 6:26 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
York City is celebrating one of the most turbulent rises in football history. However, the success is then overshadowed by a brutal incident.
While the emotions of the players and staff of fifth division club York City knew no bounds, one of the professionals lost his nerve. After the final whistle of the game between York and Rochdale AFC, City’s Hiram Boateng caused a scandal.
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The midfielder was filmed in several videos on X, formerly Twitter. He was apparently exhausted on the ground, but celebrated his team’s promotion. Then a fan came rushing in and initially pushed another stadium visitor away to get to Boateng. Afterwards it looks as if he also pushed or pushed the York professional.
The 30-year-old didn’t put up with that, immediately got up and punched the fan extremely hard in the face with his left fist. The fan then fell to the ground. All videos on social media end afterwards, so it is not clear how the situation continued.
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This all happened after a dramatic season finale. York City and Rochdale came first and second to win direct promotion to the fourth English league on the last matchday. Thanks to a goal in the 13th minute of stoppage time in the away game, York secured a happy ending.
As the “Sun” reports, it is not yet clear which club the punched fan supports. The English newspaper has asked both clubs for a statement, but so far there has been no response. At the same time, the “Sun” speculated that Boateng could now face an enormous punishment.
