Watch: Mdina Knights footballers get heavy bans for turning on referee

The clash at the Sirens Stadium turned into a feisty affair, with referee Matthias Buttigieg forced to show three red cards and report six other players and officials for misbehaviour and dissent after the final whistle.

Nichail Muscat, of Mdina Knights, was handed a five-match ban following his dismissal on 69 minutes.

According to the referee’s match report, Muscat, who had just been booked, approached the referee and questioned his integrity using ‘offensive and abusive language’. He was then shown a second yellow card and subsequently sent off.

A minute from time, Jake Sciberras, of Mdina Knights and Sta Venera’s Michael Theuma, were both shown the red card after they were involved in an off-the-ball altercation.

Both Sciberras and Theuma were handed a three-match ban.

The match report said that after this decision, the referee was confronted by several Mdina Knights players who protested his decision vehemently. Buttigieg said that he “had to run away to protect myself from the players.”

Video footage showed police officers entering the pitch to protect match officials from angry and aggressive Mdina players.

Following the final whistle, Mdina goalkeeper Jake Chircop St John, Ryan Theuma, and Giovanni Galea all ran towards the referee and directed abusive language against him.

Chircop St John, Theuma and Galea were all handed a two-match ban.

Gianluca Theuma was handed a four-match suspension as, according to the referee report, he was dismissed for threatening and insulting a match official.

Two Mdina Knights officials were also handed lengthy suspensions for their unruly behaviour.

Club official Richard Deschrijver was handed a ten-match ban after continuously questioning the referee’s integrity, while club official Marco Buttigieg, who, according to the report, was sitting on the stands, was handed a four-match ban for continuously passing abusive remarks towards the match officials.