PARENTS watched in horror as an angry dad headbutted a player during a children’s football match.

Officials were forced to abandon the game after other spectators dashed on to the pitch to restrain the 40-year-old man.

Police arrested the dad at the scene before taking him into custody while the youngster was treated in Southampton General for a bleeding nose.

Today it emerged that the man had been given an official caution for common assault on the condition he pay the injured teenager £100.

The extraordinary incident happened three minutes before the end of a match at the BTC Southampton Sports and Social Club in Stoneham Lane on Sunday.

Police say the man thought his son, who was playing for BTC Southampton Kestrels, had been the victim of “a rough or bad tackle” during a match against Totton Rangers in a Southampton and District Tyro Football League Under-15s match.

Kestrels were leading 6-0 at the time.

The dad was so enraged he climbed under the barrier onto the pitch where he began shouting at the 15-year-old Totton Rangers player before “headbutting” him in the face.

A police spokesman said the man, from Southampton, immediately admitted the offence after being arrested.

He said: “Officers then discussed with the victim that a caution was an option in this case. The victim was happy with this and the man accepted an official conditional caution.

“The condition of the caution was that he pays a sum of £100 in compensation to the victim.”

One witness, who did not want to be named, said: “It all ended up in chaos with lots of arms and legs swinging. There were a lot of people holding the man back.

“The game had to be cancelled and most of the youngsters were quite upset “It was not nice to see. It was a kids’ game of football and you just don’t expect this kind of thing to happen.”

Neither Kestrels chairman Richard Fitzgerald nor any officials from Totton Rangers would comment on the incident.

It is not clear whether any disciplinary action will be taken against either team.

Southampton and District Tyro Football League chairman Brian Butler said: “We are waiting for Hampshire FA to deal with this and we will be speaking to both clubs.”

Hampshire Football Association spokeswoman Nicola Rodgers said: “We are aware of the incident and are currently waiting for the official match report to come in from the referee of the match.”