Walter Finch
AN English professional footballer has been identified as the man who hurled a chair at a woman during a chaotic poolside brawl in Ibiza.
Kian Harratt, who plays for League Two side Oldham Athletic, was caught on camera throwing the plastic chair which struck a female holidaymaker and sent her crashing to the ground during the melee at the Marco Polo hotel in San Antonio.
The shocking footage, which has been viewed thousands of times across social media platforms, shows multiple people wrestling and slipping on wet poolside tiles as the violence escalated around the hotel’s swimming area.
Although he claims it was accidental and he was apologetic afterwards, the 22-year-old striker appeared to relish the notoriety by reposting the video on his own social media accounts alongside photos of himself partying with friends in Ibiza.
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One of his companions tagged Harratt, who scored the winning goal for Oldham in their recent playoff final at Wembley, in a post describing the trip as the ‘best 5 days of my life’ – while the footballer himself declared it the ‘best holiday I’ve been on by a country mile’.
The brawl took place beside a ‘Good Vibes Only’ sign in a grimly ironic twist, with the Jet2Holidays jingle playing in the background as the violence unfolded.
The hotel’s Instagram account posted the footage with the caption: “Yeah, a chair flew… but so did the vibes. Only at Marco Polo.”
Following a backlash from football fans calling for him to be banned from the sport, Harratt has now defended his actions in a lengthy social media post, claiming he was protecting his 18-year-old friend from a ‘6ft 6 bully’ who had floored his mate and then kicked him while was down.
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In the post, Harratt wrote: “Just for the people who have seen the video circling the internet off 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!”
The footballer claimed the incident began when the larger man was ‘swimming over to young couples while they’re chilling and trying to make the lad feel uncomfortable flirting with their girls’.
He alleged that after his young friend playfully splashed the man, tensions escalated when the stranger confronted his mate and ‘hit my pal in the face and dropped him and then proceeded to kick him in the face while he was down’.
“A chair then got lobbed towards me so I picked the chair up and threw it back and it accidentally hit the woman,” Harratt explained, adding that she ‘went down a bit easy’ but that he was ‘very apologetic and felt terrible’.
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The striker insisted he was simply backing up his friend, saying: “Like any normal mates would do we’ve backed him up. I’d have felt even worse if we left my mate to get badly beaten up while he’s trying to enjoy his holiday.”
However, his explanation has done little to quell the anger from football fans who continue to question why clubs give him opportunities despite his controversial behaviour.
One supporter wrote: “He should be banned from football. Who can defend him?” while another added: “What a mong he is. You just can’t take the scrote out of the lad sadly.”
The incident has prompted widespread condemnation from fans of multiple clubs, with many calling for Oldham Athletic to terminate his contract immediately.
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“People like this don’t deserve careers in football. Young lads dedicate their lives wanting to become a footballer and you get p****s like him,” wrote one angry fan.
Another supporter sarcastically dubbed him ‘Wembley hero and Ibiza chair throwing champion 2025’, highlighting the stark contrast between his recent on-field success and off-field behaviour.
Harratt’s involvement in the incident has even raised questions about his future in professional football, with some fans demanding disciplinary action from both his club and the FA.
The striker had previously struggled for regular game time at Oldham, rarely making the squad for most matches last season before his dramatic winner in the playoff final.
Oldham Athletic did not respond to a request for comment.
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