POLICE investigating a targeted attack on a football coach before a Northern League match have renewed their appeal for information.

The mob assault took place as players were going through their warm up routine on the pitch, before the division one derby fixture between Seaham Red Star and Sunderland RCA, on Tuesday, August 28.

It was understood up to eight men, wearing masks and scarves, emerged from Transit-type vans which pulled up outside the Red Star ground, within Seaham Town Park, off Stockton Road, about half-an-hour ahead of the scheduled evening kick-off.

They made for one of the Red Star coaches and delivered a beating, using bats and other weapons, before leaving in the waiting vans.

The injured coach required hospital treatment, receiving stitches to back and leg wounds.

Although the startled players who witnessed the incident were visibly shaken, the match went ahead, albeit 15 minutes late, and the visitors romped to a 5-0 victory.

Durham County FA branded the incident “a disgrace”, and is staging its own inquiry, seeking comment from both clubs and the match officials.

  • A Durham Police spokesman urged anyone with information to come forward, via its 101 number, quoting reference number 383 of August 28, 2018.