A match between REMO and SVH in the fifth tier of amateur football was abandoned by the referee on Saturday afternoon. A REMO player shouted the word 'cancer', after which play did not continue.
The match between REMO and SVH was only half an hour old when the incident happened. A REMO player shouted the word and the referee stopped play.
Afterwards, the player apologised and said he had shouted it 'out of emotion'. More players then gathered and the referee became confused.
According to the SVH coach, 'the referee no longer knew who had shouted the word' and decided to abandon the match. "I have never experienced this before," said the coach of the side that had not used the word.
Police were eventually called because the referee said he no longer felt safe. "Everyone wanted to talk to him, but he was certainly not threatened. He felt he was not being listened to," REMO chairman Humphrey Alladin told Algemeen Dagblad.
It is not yet known when, or if, the match between REMO and SVH will be completed.