SANTA ROSA -- Police are seeking criminal charges against as many as 10 people involved in a violent melee at a girls rugby match that left a coach bloodied and unconscious and a referee with a split lip.

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"I've never seen anything like it," said coach Craig Stewart, 55, who was knocked unconscious after he was kicked in the head by another coach and parents during a game Saturday afternoon at Rancho Cotate High School in Rohnert Park, according to witnesses and police.

The case will be referred to the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office for review, said Rohnert Park police Sgt. Art Sweeney. Recommended charges against those involved include misdemeanor battery and assault with a deadly weapon for kicking Stewart in the head, Sweeney said.

"It's very serious," he added.

"I never saw them coming," said Stewart, who was rushed by ambulance to Kaiser Medical Center in Santa Rosa and was recovering at home Sunday. "They just started kicking me in the head and the face."

The violence erupted during a tournament game between the Rohnert Park Girls Rugby Club and Stewart's team, the Alameda High School Riptide club team.

The Northern California Rugby Football Union suspended all of the players and coaches in the Rohnert Park rugby programs.

"Its players and coaches are not eligible to participate in any aspect of NCRFU rugby, effective today," said Joe Leisek, the head referee during the tournament. "I've been in rugby for 30 years, since I was 15, and I've been a referee for six years, and I've never seen or heard of anything like this."

The conflict began when referee Paul Berman, 42, ordered a spectator off the field and was punched in the face three times by the brother of the coach of the Rohnert Park team, Sweeney said.

That's when Stewart intervened to help Berman and held the attacker on the ground until police arrived, detectives said. The Rohnert Park coach and as many as eight dads then descended on Stewart, Sweeney said Sunday.

"That's the last thing I remember," said Stewart.

Stewart said his assistant coach, William Travis, was also injured when he attempted to protect him. Sweeney said Travis threw himself on coach to help protect him from the kicking. He suffered three broken ribs and was treated and released from Kaiser, he said.

Sweeney said the report hadn't yet been forwarded to prosecutors.

"Every time we turn a corner there's more people to talk to," he said.

Stewart was treated at the hospital for cuts and a head injury. Berman was treated on the scene for a split lip.

Several of the adults fled by the time police arrived, Sweeney said.

Police have identified two suspects -- the Rohnert Park coach and his brother, whose names were not released -- and they are looking for seven or eight additional men they say were involved in the beating.

Police were still investigating and working to identify all adults involved. No one had been arrested by midday Monday, Sweeney said.