2 months ago
19
A holidaymaker at the centre of a shameful Ibiza swimming pool brawl in which British professional footballer Kian Harratt threw a plastic chair at a woman has accused the star of starting the mayhem.
In shocking footage the Oldham Athletic striker, 23, was seen launching the chair into the face of an innocent middle-aged woman who was trying to break up the fight.
Harratt has since claimed the fight was started by a '6'6 bully' who punched his friend.
But that man Brandon Watkins, 31, hit back at Harratt's claim that he started it, saying: ‘I’m 6ft 4 for a start and I’m not a bully.'
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Brandon insisted the player ‘provoked’ his friends and their whole group were ‘looking for a fight’ when they arrived at the Marco Polo Hotel in San Antonio on Saturday afternoon.
He said: ‘The fight happened on day five of our holiday. We'd been around that pool every day and getting on with everybody and making friends with people.
‘These guys turned up and started throwing balls about. 'Several people were saying they’re going to be trouble even before it kicked off.
‘At one point one of his mates got in the pool next to me and just started aggressively splashing me. One of them said what are you looking at?
Holidaymaker Brandon Watkins, 31, (pictured) who was involved in the shameful Ibiza brawl had accused footballer Kian Harratt of causing the mayhem
Oldham striker Kian Harratt was filmed launching a chair in the direction of a woman at an Ibiza resort
The woman was left lying motionless on the ground as multiple bystanders attended to her
Harratt, 23, has since accused Brandon of starting the brawl by punching his friend, dubbing him a 6'6 bully
‘They were just being a nightmare. One lad was winding us up. Kian was sat right next to him and if anything Kian was provoking him.
‘Next thing I knew Kian picked up a chair and threw it.
‘I got the impression he was intoxicated, they were sat near the bar before and if they were sober they wouldn’t have acted like that.
‘After the brawl happened people were buying us drinks and congratulating us, that’s how bad this group were
‘It’s just outrageous for a footballer to behave like he did.’
The viral video shows Brandon’s group clashing with Harratt’s friends before the unnamed woman tried to intervene and was hit by a chair.
Several men including Brandon fell into the pool and another chair was thrown at them before hotel security rushed in to intervene.
Brandon - who was on holiday with four school friends - stayed with the injured woman and her friends after Harratt’s group were kicked out of the hotel and later helped her back to her room because she had broken her toe in the fall.
Brandon described Harratt and his friends as 'nightmares', saying it was 'outrageous for a footballer to behave like he did'
Footage, which has now been widely circulated on social media, shows a women suddenly dropped to the floor after being hit by a plastic chair
The video initially emerged of the quarrel at the weekend without Harratt being identified
He added: ‘Would I have done that if I was a bully who was making them uncomfortable?’
Brandon’s version is also backed up by a close pal of the woman who was hit by the chair.
The friend - who was sunbathing by the pool when the brawl kicked off - said: 'It was carnage, I've never seen anything like it in my life. My friend was injured. They were all just shouting and swearing at each other.
‘She's an absolute angel and such a good person which is why she got involved - she saw people were arguing and she just went over to stop it.
'But when she did Kian spoke to her like she was a piece of shit and Brandon stepped in out of respect and said don't speak to a woman like that. Brandon threw the first punch then all Kian's friends got involved.’
After the footage emerged Kian claimed he was 'very apologetic' and 'felt terrible' but accused the woman of 'going down a bit easy'
The friend added: 'That's no apology, he has no remorse whatsoever. Him and his mates were kicked out of the hotel without apologising, he's only sorry because he has been identified.
'My friend is really embarrassed by the whole thing, it was a horrible experience made worse as people who have seen the video have been trolling her online.
Brandon said he stayed with the injured woman and her friend's after the footballer was kicked out of the hotel, a version of events which has been further supported by the woman's friend
After the footage emerged Kian claimed he was 'very apologetic' and 'felt terrible' but accused the woman of 'going down a bit easy'
The woman's friend said he had 'no remorse whatsoever', adding: 'Him and his mates were kicked out of the hotel without apologising, he's only sorry because he has been identified'
'He's a professional footballer, a lot of kids look up to him and it's not a good reflection on his club.'
The brawl comes just three weeks after Harratt fired Oldham to Wembley glory, scoring the winning goal in extra-time of their 3-2 victory over Southend United to earn a League 2 spot next season.
Posting on TikTok, Harratt wrote: 'Just for the people who have seen the video circling the internet of me throwing a chair “FOR ABSOLUTELY NO REASON”
'Here’s the fella who started it all and let me just say he was the worst man you could ever come across and a bully!
'He was 6,6 and built like a brick! Anyway he was swimming over to young couples while they're all chilling and trying to make the lad feel uncomfortable flirting with there girls and all sorts of daft stuff like that!
‘And one of my mates who is only 18 by the way jumped in the pool and started splashing him having a laugh like you do on holiday then it’s stopped!
'After that my mate got out off the pool and the big fella shouted over to him wtf are you looking at so obviously my mates said to him I’m looking at you the fella has then flipped and started walking to my mate and the woman who gets hit with the chair is in this video here trying to stop him my pal then goes dancing over to him not expecting the man to punch him.
'But anyways he hit my pal in the face and dropped him and then proceeded to kick him in the face while he was down.
'The video cut off though after that obviously like any normal mates would do we’ve backed him up I tried staying out the way as I don’t want the trouble a chair then got lobbed towards me so I picked the chair up and threw it back and it accidentally hit the woman who as you can see went down a bit easy but besides that I was very apologetic and I felt terrible.
'But I’d have felt even worse if we left my mate to get badly beaten up while he’s trying to enjoy his holiday I hope this video opens peoples eyes I had to post it cause I’ve had nothing but abuse all morning and I’m sure this will clear it or so it should.’
