Danish football yob hit with €250,000 penalty

A DANISH man was yesterday sentenced to pay 1,869,269 kroner (€250,000) in damages to the Danish Football Federation for interrupting a game by rushing the pitch and attacking the referee.

Ronni Noervig, 33, who has been nicknamed the “football idiot” by Danish media, had interrupted a European Championship qualification match between Denmark and neighbouring Sweden in June, 2007.

He rushed onto the field with two minutes left of the game tied at 3-3, hitting German referee Herbert Fander in the face after the official gave Danish defender Christian Poulsen a red card for punching a Swedish player in the stomach.

Noervig was immediately arrested, and the shaken referee called off the game. European football’s governing body, UEFA, later awarded Sweden a 3-0 victory.

The Appeals Court of Eastern Denmark pointed out that the Danish Football Federation (DBU) had also been blocked by UEFA from playing the two following international games scheduled in Copenhagen’s Parken Stadium, and had suffered an estimated loss of 2.2m kroner (€295,800).

Tuesday’s ruling was far harsher than a 2009 lower court ruling ordering Noervig to pay 900,000 kroner (€121,000) in damages.

With tears in his eyes, the football fan said in November that he “absolutely did not have the means” to pay the amount ordered by the lower court and that he would be bankrupt along with his wife and two children if he lost the appeals case.

Yesterday, DBU head Kim Stjerne Hansen said in a statement the federation was thrilled the court had clearly shown “there is significant compensation responsibility connected with interrupting a football game and thereby ruining the experience for millions of viewers and at the same time handing the organiser an unreasonably large income loss”.

Meanwhile, he said, the principle of the ruling was what was most important and the federation was prepared to negotiate with Noervig to bring down somewhat the amount he had to pay. Noervig said: “I hope we work out a monthly repayment plan, but it is possible the sum the DBU thinks is reasonable is higher than what I can pay.”