Footballer beaten with pool cue in row over ball at Finsbury Leisure Centre

A FOOTBALLER was left hospitalised after he was attacked with a pool cue in retaliation for snatching the ball back from a teenage girl.

The 25-year-old was playing with work colleagues at Finsbury Leisure Centre, in Norman Street, Finsbury, at 7.50pm on Monday when a group of teenage girls grabbed the ball and ran off.

He asked for it back but she refused so he walked up to her and took the ball out of her hands. The girls left, but they returned shortly afterwards with a larger group of teenage boys and girls.

The teenager who originally started the row pointed out the victim and one of her friends went up to him and punched him in the face.

A female member of the gang also hit him in the face, before a second boy pulled out a pool cue and smashed the victim across the right shoulder. He was left with serious bruising and swelling to his head and body and was taken to University College Hospital in Euston for treatment, but was later discharged.

His 28-year-old colleague also sustained a minor cut to his right eye after he stepped in to help.

The three main suspects were a slim white girl with brown hair, who was aged about 14 and wearing a black jacket, a black boy aged about 16, who wore a Ralph Lauren beanie hat, and a white boy aged about 15 who had on a blue and white ski jacket with a hat.

Anyone with information on the identity of these suspects should contact Detective Constable Richard Foulkes on 020 7421 0296 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.