Danish 'idiot' has ref attack fine reduced

A Danish man ordered to pay 250,000 euros ($323,000) to the Danish Football Federation (DBU) for attacking a referee during an international game had his fine reduced to 250,000 krone (33,600 euros; $43,463) on Friday.

The DBU explained in a statement that they had reached an agreement with Ronni Noervig, dubbed 'the Football Idiot' by Danish media.

The incident occurred during a Euro 2008 qualifier between Denmark and Sweden that took place on June 2, 2007.

With the score 3-3 and with two minutes left to play, Noervig ran onto the pitch and physically assaulted the referee. Sweden were later awarded the victory.

Noervig was originally ordered to pay 900,000 krone in 2009 and the amount was increased to 1,869,269 after an appeal on January 10, but he pleaded that he did not have the means to pay such amounts.

The DBU responded by saying they were willing to negotiate.

Their statement on Friday said the fine had been "recalculated to take Ronni Noervig's financial situation into account" -- notably the fact he was paid 100,000 krone to talk about his act on Danish television station Kanal 5.

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