The on-pitch punch that proves the ‘beautiful game’ is anything but...

When President Erdogan of Turkey intervenes in a football scandal after a referee is attacked and ends up sounding like a voice of reason and rationality, you know the sport is in serious trouble, writes Jim White

Referee Halil Umut Meler, left, falls to the ground after an attack at the end of the MKE Ankaragucu v Caykur Rizespor match in the Turkish Super Lig on Monday (Abdurrahman Antakyali/AP) (AP)

It is not often that Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sounds like the voice of calm. But he was talking about football. And right now, football is mad enough to make the most unhinged dictator seem like a model of reason and rationality in comparison.

On Monday night, the Turkish Lig was suspended indefinitely after a referee was punched and kicked at the end of a game, his face swelling even as he was pictured leaving the field. However Halil Umut Meler, the official concerned, was not attacked by a player or a rogue supporter who had invaded the pitch. He was the victim of a right hook delivered by the president of one of the clubs involved.

MKE Ankaragucu were playing Caykur Rizespor at the Eryaman Stadium in the capital Ankara, in a match broadcast live on Turkish television. Ankaragucu had taken an early lead and looked as if they were heading for three points. Well into added time, however, the visitors scored. After the final whistle had blown, several players surrounded the referee to make their point about him adding too much injury time, thus allowing the late equaliser.