A football hooligan has been jailed for four months for his part in a brutal assault on a rival fan, which shocked the nation when TV pictures were released by police in a bid to identify the culprits, local press reported Tuesday.

The footage showed soccer thugs beating the man unconscious while his screaming eight-year-old son looked on.

Larnaca District Court on Monday delivered the sentence against 27-year old Yiannis Pipis, a civil servant from Nicosia, who was convicted of attacking and causing grievous bodily harm to a 56-year old football fan and illegally assembling outside a sports grounds back in April.

Pipis, a temporary worker at the Interior Ministry, was one of nine Apoel fans who attacked and seriously injured Angelos Mina who had taken his boy of eight to a game in Larnaca.

The incident took place on April 29 outside the Antonis Papadopoulos stadium, following the 2-2 draw between Anorthosis Famagusta and Apoel of Nicosia. The result effectively ended Apoel's chances of winning this year's championship.

There had been various incidents of violence before, during and after the match, with fans of both teams hurling stones and other objects at each other.

A number of measures have been suggested recently by the government which include numbered seats, stadium closed-circuit TV systems and stewards keeping order at match-time in order to combat football-related violence.

The measures come in the wake of a recent rash of post-match violence that renewed public and official calls for tougher action to stamp out hooliganism.