Bellamy’s club attack nearly finished me off
FORMER footballer John Arne Riise says a golf club attack by team-mate Craig Bellamy almost ended his career.
The ex-Liverpool left back claims Bellamy battered his legs with the club during a team break in the Algarve. And Riise, 38, claims the hotheaded Welsh striker yelled: “I don’t care if I go to jail” after the attack. Speaking in detail for the first time in his new book Running Man, the Norwegian star said Bellamy lost his temper after a karaoke row in a bar before their 2-1 away victory against Barcelona in 2007. After turning down demands to sing, Riise shouted at Bellamy: “Shut the f*** up or I’m gonna smash you!” His team-mate allegedly replied: “I’m gonna f***ing kill you, you ginger c***!”
Riise said he went back to his hotel room, only to be woken by Bellamy. He wrote: “Bellamy raised the club over his head and swung as hard as he could. He tried to hit my shins, which would have ended my career, but I managed to pull my leg away.” He was then hit on the hip and thigh. Bellamy was “completely gone” and is said to have yelled: “Nobody disrespects me in front of the lads! “I don’t care if I go to jail! My kids have enough money for school and everything. I don’t care. I’ll f***ing do you!” The star had to apologise and was fined £80,000. But he hailed a goal against Barca by swinging an imaginary golf club, which Riise called “disrespectful”. Bellamy later called his behaviour “stupidity of the highest level”.