Mass brawl breaks out at rugby league match after players jump into crowd 'to protect wives and children being squashed by their own fans' Incident occurred following end of a game held this afternoon between Salford Red Devils and Huddersfield Giants Players brawled with fans after reacting to cries for help from their families situated at the front of the stands Salford has since apologised for the behaviour of some of their fans, saying it will hunt down any offenders involved Fights broke out in the stands of a rugby league match after players jumped into the crowd to protect wives and children who were being squashed by their own fans. The incident occurred at the end of a First Utility Super League match between the Salford Red Devils and Huddersfield Giants at the West Yorkshire club's John Smith's Stadium this afternoon. Players from Salford, including Junior S'au and Justin Carney, were shown rushing over to where their own fans were located in the ground apparently in response to cries from help from women and children situated near the pitch. Salford fan Lesley Kaneen attended the game with her elderly father and told the MailOnline how the players had rushed to the aid of their families.There were a bunch of mindless idiots in the crowd who have nothing at all to do with Salford and they were out to cause trouble from the start,' she said. 'It's a tradition for the players to come over to the fans at the end of the game after they've won and to the credit of the families of the players, they actually sit with all the fans. But they were being pushed and shoved by these thugs and the players, rightly in my mind, jumped in to defend them. 'There were young children crying their eyes out, frightened to death - it was just horrible. The wife of Salford player Junior S'au was in the crowd clutching her young baby to her chest and you've got these idiots behind stupid and pushing and shoving.' She added: 'We were sat about ten rows from all the trouble and saw the whole thing and I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it at a rugby game before, and nor has my dad who has been going for 50-odd years.'I'm a true Red and I can guarantee that to a man, each one of them will be found and banned by the club, and the 800-strong travelling support made up of real fans will do all they can to make it happen.' Tony Townsend, treasurer of the Huddersfield Giants Supporters Association, said: 'I saw one steward getting an absolute pasting; it was horrific to see. 'IT's just so disappointing because I've never seen anything like this before at a rugby match and it is very damaging to the sport's reputation. The scenes were really ugly.' Huddersfield fan Oliver Rounding, 24, said: 'It all kicked off at the end of the game when the Salford players started walking over to clap their fans and one of those in the Salford end jumped over the barriers and ran over to them but he was stopped by the stewards, and a certain group of Salford fans got angry about it 'They all rushed to the front of the stand and started arguing with the officials and that's when a couple of the Salford players jumped in as well and it all kicked off a bit. 'The Salford fans had been being a bit rowdy the whole game and had even chucked a flare on the pitch after about 70 minutes. I feel sorry for the stewards because there was zero police presence so it was basically just them having to deal with these guys on their own.' John Rushworth, who attended the match as a photographer, said that Carney had gone over to the crowd to give his daughter a kiss shortly before the pushing and shoving began. He said: 'The players jumped into the crowd to protect people. One of the stewards told me he thinks there was trouble because two rival local clubs from Manchester had been clashing in the stands during the day.' Fight breaks out at Salford Red Devils and Huddersfield Giants match Fight breaks out at Salford Red Devils and Huddersfield Giants match Fight breaks out at Salford Red Devils and Huddersfield Giants match Rugby fans clash with stewards after huge fight breaks out Rugby fans clash with stewards after huge fight breaks out Rugby League Rugby League Rugby League Rugby League Rugby League Rugby League Rugby League

• published: 29 Mar 2016
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