On rare occasions referees do get attacked by the players they are officiating.

But, unlike Paolo Di Canio's shove on a referee back in the 90s, what has happened in Paraguay makes the Italian's actions look tame.

During the second half of a lower division match between Porvenir and Coronel Romero, the referee decided to send off Porvenir's Aldo Romero for a bad tackle.

One of Romero's team-mates shoved the referee, also incurring a red card.

That decision incensed the Porvenir players and as they crowded around the ref aggressively, one of them struck the referee in the face with a flying kick.

The police got involved and the game was suspended.