Referee Mathilde Demoncay Injured in Pre-Season Friendly
A pre-season friendly in eastern France turned ugly on Saturday when referee Mathilde Demoncay suffered a concussion after being knocked to the ground while trying to break up a mass confrontation between players.
The 26-year-old official was in charge of the warm-up match between French side Metz and Dutch club Fortuna Sittard at Schlossberg Stadium in Forbach when tempers snapped late in the first half.
Flashpoint in front of a “Respect the referee” sign
The game, meant to ease both teams toward their new seasons, boiled over in the 40th minute. What began as a routine shirt-tug between two opponents escalated quickly as teammates rushed in, bodies crowding around the original flashpoint.
Demoncay moved in to separate the players. In the chaos of the melee, she was knocked off balance and fell heavily to the turf. Video circulating on social media shows the incident unfolding just metres from a large pitchside banner carrying a bitterly ironic message: “Respect the referee.”
She stayed down for several minutes, clutching her arm, as assistant referees, stewards and medical staff sprinted onto the pitch. The match ground to a halt while order was restored and her condition assessed.
Local reports later confirmed Demoncay had suffered a concussion in the collision.
Back on the line, then forced off
Remarkably, after treatment she chose to continue, switching roles and resuming as an assistant referee once play restarted. The match carried on, Metz going on to win 3-1, but the incident had already overshadowed the scoreline.
Demoncay did not return for the second half. She left the field at the interval, with another assistant stepping in to complete the game.
Fortuna Sittard’s own match report on the club’s website referred to the clash as a “remarkable moment” but offered no further detail on the confrontation or the referee’s condition. Metz’s official channels made no mention of the episode at all.
A friendly designed to tune up two squads instead left one young referee sidelined and raised fresh questions about player conduct and protection for match officials, even on supposedly low-stakes summer afternoons.
