AN AMATEUR footballer faces a possible life ban for head-butting a referee after a match and breaking his nose.

The referee, Derek Goddard, had just blown the final whistle on a stormy match between the Maidstone-based side Parkwood Jupitors and Aylesford Working Men's Club at Aylesford when he was assaulted.

Mr Goddard, a 42-year-old taxi driver, said: "The player was the brother of one I had sent off and he verbally abused me at the end of the match. Then, as I turned away, he head-butted me and I realised immediately it was broken."

Other players dragged the attacker away from the referee. Parkwood Jupitors player Martin Smith was suspended by the Maidstone & Mid Kent Sunday League team after an emergency meeting of club management on Sunday evening.

The Kent County Football Association immediately suspended Mr Smith, playing his first season in men's football. KCFA chief executive Keith Masters said Mr Smith's case would be dealt with in the usual manner after the referee's report had been received.

If the report into the incident is accepted, Smith faces anything from a five-year ban to as lifetime exclusion from Kent football.

Police say a man was briefly detained on Sunday evening and cautioned as to his future conduct. He was released without charge.

Parkwood Jupitors' secretary Brian Masters said the club was embarrassed. "This has not done our repuation any good at all," he stressed.