A man responsible for a Mosta team involved in a violent football match in Sweden on Friday said he saw none of the young Maltese footballers knocking the referee down with a karate kick.

According to foreign media reports, a young Maltese footballer kicked referee Kenneth Lindmark after his team were shown five red cards in a tournament match against a Norwegian team, which scored an early goal, provoking a series of bad tackles by the Maltese.

"After the match there was a scuffle... some pushing and shoving," Maltese delegate Michael Farrugia said, accusing media reports of blowing the incident out of proportion.

The referee was directing another match only an hour later and the young boy accused of kicking him was released by police soon after being questioned, he said.

The incident took place in Ostersund during a match between Ilves football school of Mosta and Il Verdal during an under-15 match in the Storsjocupen tournament.

Mr Farrugia pointed out that his team disagreed with many of the decisions being taken by the referee, and that Mr Lindmark was being "cheeky" to the children by smiling whenever calling fouls against their team.

According to the Maltese team, they deserved two penalties and an offside decision unfairly went against them.

"He lost control of the game," Mr Farrugia said, adding that such a high number of red cards was unprecedented for an under-15 match.

Mr Farrugia deplored "all sort of trouble on the football ground" and said that in 15 years no such problems had ever taken place. Malta was always invited back to the popular tournament.

Together with three parents who were present for the event, Mr Farrugia said he intervened to stop the fighting as soon as it began, adding he was not yet aware of what kind of disciplinary action would be taken.

He stressed that the young man accused of kicking the referee was not arrested but was with the rest of the team. According to the boy's version of events, he was simply pushed onto the referee during the scuffle.

"The children are not violent. This wasn't a war. It was a scuffle, which didn't last more than two minutes. And none of the boys were hurt... We were doing very well in the tournament and this was a particular case where we had problems with the referee," he said, stressing he was not justifying any violence.

The Maltese team were eliminated from the tournament because they lost the game, not because of suspension.

Meanwhile, although media reports were consistent about the fight that broke out, they were inconsistent about the referee's injuries. Some said he was kicked in the chest while others said he was hit in the head.

On Swedish news site Zport he is seen posing for photos with a smile, complaining about his swollen face and adding that he continued to referee the football since this was the best medicine he could think of.

He could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The Youth FA distanced itself from the Maltese team and in a statement condemned the incident. It said the team in question was not licensed by the association.

It said that no permit was requested or issued by either the Youth FA or the Malta Football Association for their participation in the tournament.