Footballer banned for 5 years for biting opponent's PENIS after match in France

Footballers are perhaps used to having their own manhood getting them into trouble, not that of another player. That's not the case in the French amateur league, where a player has been banned for biting a rival's penis.

Bans for biting have been made famous by gnash-happy Barcelona forward Luis Suarez, who has been banned no fewer than three times for digging his dentures into opponents on the pitch.

But we’re sure not even Suarez would sink so low -  quite literally - nor sink his teeth so low down he would bite another player's genitals. 

That’s exactly what happened in the French 2nd district division between SC Terville and AS Soetrich, according to French publication Republicain Lorrain. After the game, two players began a scuffle in the car park. 

Reuters / Andrew Boyers

As a third player from Terville tried to intervene when the fight got out of hand, his attempts at peacemaking were less than diplomatically received and the Soetrich player responded by clamping his jaws down on his family jewels.

As a result, the Moselle district disciplinary committee, in the North-East of France near the border with Luxembourg, suspended the Soetrich player for 5 years from football. His club were also deducted two points and handed a 200 euro fine ($215).

The internet understandably reacted with dismay.

Disciplinary director general Emmanuel Saling commented on the incident: “It is quite rare to have sanctions of several years, there are less than ten a year.

“It is sure that this file was a little 'crunchy', but when we imagine the exit from the match, there must have been a nasty tension, so the smiles in the disciplinary committee quickly fell,” Saling said. 

Immediately after the fight, the Terville player was rushed to hospital and, aside the eye-watering agony he must have suffered, reportedly required a dozen stitches and was signed off work for four days. 

But in an astonishing twist, the Terville player was also slapped with a six month ban by the disciplinary committee for his part in the fight, on top of having his nether regions gnawed at.

Given the injuries and the punishments dished out, we're sure that in future neither player, if provoked into a fight, will bite