A 12-YEAR-OLD football fan was beaten by a hooligan after travelling to see his beloved Arsenal play last week.

Emerson Butler, from Darlington, was attacked after the Manchester City vs Arsenal game at the Etihad stadium last Sunday (May 8).

After striking up a light-hearted conversation with a group of middle-aged Man City fans, he was assaulted and left with facial injuries.

His father, Richard Butler, described what happened as he slammed the person responsible for the cowardly attack.

Mr Butler said he and his son had been on their way back to their car when they struck up a light-hearted conversation with a member of the group.

Emerson commented on the match result being fair and the man responded by becoming aggressive and punching the youngster in the face.

Before the matter could escalate further, Emerson fled, leaving his shocked father unable to comprehend the actions of his attacker.

Mr Butler said: “It was shocking, totally unexpected and without reason – my son likes to have a laugh with other fans and he thought it was just friendly banter.

“Because Emerson ran, I didn’t realise the extent of what had happened so just went after him to make sure he was alright.

“He’s a tall lad but clearly a child and it’s just unbelievable, you don’t expect it these days – it’s the kind of thing that happened 20 years ago.

“They were old enough to have grandchildren of their own and now my son’s saying he’s not sure he wants to go to the football again.

“He did have his Arsenal top visible but he should be able to do that in this day and age.

“He was traumatised– I’ve been taking him to games for years and nothing like this has happened.

“It’s hard to get my head around who’d do this to a child.

“I want him to realise what he’s done – he needs banning from football immediately and sending to prison for this.”

A spokesman for the Greater Manchester Police said: “An assault like this against a child is a really low point – even for a hooligan it’s a really nasty thing to do.

“We’re taking this very seriously and looking to identify this offender as soon as we can.

“Anyone who may have been in the area of Alan Turing way and witnessed the assault should call the police immediately quoting reference 090516/791.”