A Soccer Player Kicks Young ‘Ball Boy’ In the Ribs [VIDEO + POLL]

East Texans are serious about our sports, and I mean serious! We've all witnessed those embarrassing moments at our kids T-ball games of parents yelling at the umpire or referee. You know guys, at  times, we can get a little too "excited." But here's a sports story that takes it to a whole other level.We all pretty much know that the game of football is brutal, right. Well, English football, or soccer, ain't no walk in the park. The highlight of a soccer game between Chelsea and Swansea in Wales, turned out to be an incident involving a player on Chelsea, who was ejected after kicking a ball boy.

The job of the ball boy, I learned, is to retrieve the ball when it is kicked out of bounds, and give it back to the players. Well evidently, this ball boy did not retrieve the ball quick enough to soccer Chelsea soccer star Eden Hazard in the final minutes of a semifinal game in the English League Cup.

The ball bounced off an advertising board behind the goal line late in the scoreless game, and the 17-year-old ball boy picked up the ball, but when Hazard tried to reclaim it to continue the game, the ball boy went down to the ground and smothered the ball.

Hazard, tried to get the ball free with his hands but was unsuccessful. So he kicked the ball free from under the boy, but apparently injured the boy.

Several players checked on the boy and helped him on his feet, but the boy left the game and the referee gave Hazard a red card, throwing him out of the game. The Chelsea team manager, Chelsea manager Rafa Benitez, said Hazard met with the ball boy after the game.

Chelsea said on it's official Twitter feed:

  “Has football gone mad? Hazard is sent off for kicking the ball under a ball boy attempting to smother the ball rather than return it.”

Although no criminal charges have been filed, Hazard may face further punishment from the Football Association. While some are criticizing Hazard for his actions, some are defending him. Former Chelsea midfielder described the ball boy's behavior as "disgraceful."

Here's what uk.eurosport.com reported about the incident:

“The boy put his whole body onto the ball and I was just trying to kick the ball and I think I kicked the ball and not the boy,” Hazard said after the incident, although he still apologized.

So weigh in East Texas!