Sticking the boot in: Tunisian footballer sent off for attacking cheeky ball boy who chucked his boot into crowd (VIDEO)

We're used to seeing football rivalries brew over on the pitch or in the stands but a ball boy in the Tunisian league took partisanship to a new level recently when he lobbed a visiting team player's boot into the crowd.

The incident took place in a game between rivals Hammam-Lif and CA Bizertin last weekend when, with the scores tied at 1-1 with a little over 10 minutes left on the clock, the away team's Mohamed Yeken lost one of his boots near the touchline.

A quick-thinking ball boy, perhaps sensing that he could give his team a swift advantage, seized the initiative and threw the player's boot into a section of the home support.

Yeken, though, clearly didn't appreciate the youngster's actions, running towards him and pushing him to the ground. He was issued with a red card immediately after.

Hammam-Lif took the lead just three minutes later and would hold out against the 10-man Bizertin side to claim a 2-1 victory. 

And if you're wondering whether or not the offending player received his boot back from the home fans, the answer to that is a definitive 'no' after an opportunistic supporter took and later posted a photograph of the footwear to social media.

The incident harks back to a 2013 incident the Premier League when Eden Hazard, then at Chelsea, was sent off for kicking out at a 17-year-old Swansea City ball boy who refused to give the ball back to the home team. Previously, the teenager had boasted on social media of his intention to 'waste time' during the fixture.