The incident dealt another blow to the image of Chinese football, which is widely considered to be corrupt and riven with violence both on and off the pitch.
Slovenian forward Aleksander Rodic was the first Qingdao player given his marching orders after picking up a second yellow card for diving in the 67th minute of the 2-0 loss to Shanghai Shenhua on Sunday.
"The man was definitely not on the staff of our club. He was just an emotional fan," he told the Xinhua news agency.
"The referee failed to control the game well - perhaps he was too young."
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