‘Pandemonium’ as youth football cup final between Edinburgh teams ends in mass brawl involving parents and players

The fracas, during the match between Tynecastle FC and Portobello CFA 2006s, is now being investigated by police.

The incident occured in the dying seconds of the South East Region Cup Final, held at the Hallhill Centre in Dunbar, with a tense match tied at 2-2.

The melee was triggered after a collision between the Tynecastle goalkeeper and a Portobello attacker, who was hospitalised after the match.

The collision led to a mass brawl among the two opposing players, and spectators including youths and adults.

Amid the fracas, it is alleged that several parents became involved.

Spectators have been describing the violent scenes, with one onlooker telling the Evening News it was “pandemonium” with “coaches running around like crazed animals”.

“Players were punched to the floor, spectators including adults and subs were on the pitch fighting like two gangs, with coaches running around like crazed animals,” said the source, who wishes to remain anonymous.

“Portobello are a club who have been allowed to get away with absolute murder in the region for years with the regional league committee failing to deal with them or their behaviour on numerous occasions.

“Tynecastle players were clearly whipped up into a frenzy by a coach desperate to get one over Portobello.

“It was a recipe for disaster and the atmosphere was extremely tense all afternoon.”

He added: “As a neutral who was there to watch, I was disgusted by the actions of the coaches of both teams and their players.”

The father of a Portobello player posted on Twitter following the game.

He wrote: “Reckless challenge from their keeper knocked out our striker”.

“As player was on deck out cold he got booted in the head. And chaos erupted.”

A Police Scotland spokesman said: