French Footballer Sentenced to 4 Months in Prison for Threatening Opponent With Rifle

An amateur footballer in France has reportedly been jailed for four months after threatening an opponent with a gun following his sending off during a match at the weekend.

The bizarre - and quite frankly, frightening - event took place during a match between Saint Eloi and Baroc. Axel, a 27-year-old playing for the home side, was initially shown red for a bad reaction following a foul on the player.

The Saint Eloi ace seemed to leave the field without too much complaint. However, according to ITA Sport, the player soon returned to the pitch armed with a rifle. Axel was seen aiming the weapon to his opponent's temple (Slimane, the player that had originally fouled Axel), threatening to pull the trigger.

As you'd expect, police rushed to arrest Axel, who had fully loaded the weapon - and has subsequently received a four month sentence. His brother, Hanry, a warehouse dealer with a criminal record has also been sentenced to three months for supplying the gun.

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Saint-Eloi president Sylvain Giraud had this to say on the matter: 

"He took a red card. He left the field, I accompanied him to the changing room." He began, via the Sun. "He changed and drove home.

"We saw him arrive, he entered the field and there, we saw that he was taking out a weapon. He went to threaten the player with whom he had a problem and pointed the gun at him.

"He put the rifle on his temple! The police found a flat ball on the ground.

"The rifle was loaded!

"They did not know each other, he did not understand what happened."