POLICE are appealing for witnesses after a bar brawl following the Boxing Day football derby between Dorchester and Weymouth.

Officers confirmed a 27-year-old local man was treated in hospital but discharged the same day. No arrests have been made.

Police and paramedics were called to the Avenue Stadium in Dorchester when fighting broke out just minutes after the Terras had secured a 3-0 victory over their neighbours.

A spokesman for Dorset Police said up to 10 people were involved in the incident in the Avenue’s lounge bar.

Fans flooded out of the bar in the immediate aftermath of the scuffles and when the emergency services arrived the area was closed to supporters.

The match was the third time the rivals had met this season, although on the two previous occasions there were no reports of any trouble between both sets of fans.

Dorchester Town FC chairman Matt Lucas branded the incident ‘a shame’ and said his thoughts are ‘very much with the injured person’.

He added: “It is so sad that this happened on Boxing Day and at a football match.

“It’s not nice at all. It was a completely isolated incident. We’ve had nearly 2,000 people here today and it’s such a shame that a small group of people can do this.

“We will now have to await the outcome of the police investigation.”

A spokeswoman for the South Western Ambulance Service Trust said: "We were called to the incident at 5pm. There were reports that police were on scene but it was not clear what had happened.

“A man in his twenties was taken to Dorset County Hospital for treatment.

“There are no reports of any other injuries following the incident.”

A spokesman for Dorset Police said: “We attended the incident in the bar area at the stadium.

“One man was injured and it is believed that 10 people were involved in the incident.”

Today, Sunday, the police have made an appeal for witnesses to the incident. They would like to speak to people who were in the bar area at the Avenue Stadium and saw what happened.

Call police on 101 quoting i26-178.