Monday’s Tel Aviv derby between Hapoel and Maccabi got ugly quickly and was subsequently abandoned at halftime after fans ran onto the pitch late in the first half of the match.
It began when a shirtless fan rushed the pitch and attacked Eran Zahavi, who had scored a goal for Maccabi earlier in the game. Zahavi kicked and pushed the fan, and was given a red card—even though he was protecting himself. So he attempted to get the rest of his teammates to protest by walking off the field.
Hapoel manager Eyal Berkovic summed up the event in a few strong words (via BBC Sport).
“This was not a game of football, it was war,” he said after the match.
And unfortunately, it didn’t end there.
Supporters of both sides met in a Tel Aviv court on Tuesday for a detention hearing, and they began fighting again on the street outside the courthouse. A video of the incident shows them hitting each other with belts and sticks.