A recent dirty play during a Nihon University and Kwansei Gakuin University football game held in Tokyo is making the rounds across several national Japanese sports news outlets as one of the most vicious personal fouls ever committed on the gridiron.

After a whistle in a game on May 6, a Nihon University defensive player deliberately sprints toward Kwansei Gakuin's quarterback and tackles him from behind at full speed following an incompletion, with direct shoulder-to-knee contact several seconds after the play is blown dead.

Kwansei Gakuin's quarterback goes down in pain and has to be helped off the field after sustaining a serious injury. The player's right knee buckled and he reportedly felt "numbness" in his left knee.

As you can see from the video, Kwansei Gakuin's quarterback had already given up on the play and was looking toward the sideline before being rammed from behind.

"It is a shocking and extremely dangerous tackle," Japanese Sports Agency Director General Daichi Suzuki said Monday at a press conference. "I can not tolerate dangerous play, I need to explore why it got to that."

The Nippon Public Relations Division released the following statement about the incident: "I'd like to collect information from the American football team and competition organizations and consider how to deal with it in the future."

From the Japanese media outlet's initial report (words translated):

Kwansei Gakuin officials say the tackle was made to intentionally hurt another player, and was an extremely dangerous and vicious foul. They also referred to comments made by Nihon University's head coach, claiming they could be interpreted to mean such an act was permissible. They have sent a letter of protest to Nihon University, demanding an apology to the injured player and a retraction of the head coach's comments. Nihon University's American football team published an apology on its website. It says the team is deeply sorry for causing a serious concern and inconvenience. It also says the team is taking the incident seriously, and will push for thorough training of students to prevent it from happening again.

Kwansei Gakuin coach Hiroshi Ono was angered by the intentional — and extremely dangerous — attempt at injuring his quarterback.

"It is a dangerous act just to hurt players who are not related to play at all," Ono said. "I think that it is totally different story from safety. There was no appearance that the Japanese athlete who did the infringement returned to the bench and was not angered at all.

"I do not think so. Please firmly investigate the cause and make sure that the same thing never happens again."

Kwansei Gakuin's quarterback is expected to recover after this deliberate lack of sportsmanship from a pass rusher in pursuit. The team hasn't yet accepted the opposing team's apology, according to reports.