Connor Maseko of Blackfield & Langley in the English 9th Division was shown a red card for leaving the pitch and urinating on the bushes during their FA Cup first round match against Shepton Mallet. He revealed the tragedy to The Atleti.
An English Ninth Division goalkeeper was sent off in the first round of the FA Cup in early September between Blackfield & Langley and Shepton Mallet. But not for a foul on his surface or a bad gesture… No, Connor Maseko was red carded for leaving the green rectangle and it was time to meet the urgency.
“I forgot to go at half time”
The Blackfield & Langley keeper couldn’t hold back his urge to go to the toilet and ran into a wooded area 20 yards behind the goal. Get rid of it. “I had to go to the toilet for most of the match,” he said Athletic. I forgot to go at half time because I was too involved in the team discussion and didn’t want to be left out.”
“When the ball went out of bounds to nestle near some bushes in the six-yarder, I thought, ‘This is the perfect opportunity’. I thought to myself, worst case scenario, I’m going to get a yellow card. The goalkeeper, who was penalized for time wasting, explains today. Red card even in my mind. No – I don’t think that’s possible.”
Unexplained red card
The goalkeeper did not warn his teammates of what he was about to do and he might have escaped without the intervention of the Shepton Mallet players. When Blackfield & Langley captain Jack Uni saw what was happening and told Maseko to hurry up, their opponents alerted referee Benjamin Duffle and his assistants.
“The referee started walking towards me and I thought I was going to get a yellow card, which I would have accepted without flinching,” Maseko says. “Then he reached into his back pocket and took out a red card and I said, ‘Hey. Are you serious?’ I was totally confused. I thought, ‘There’s no way he’s kicked me out.’ He told me there might have been kids around, but no.
“I used to be a goalkeeper too, I’ve already done that on the pitch!”
In British media columns, his coach says he didn’t even see his homeboy do it and only noticed it when his players were annoyed by a red card. But he wants to understand Connor Maseko’s gesture: “I was a goalkeeper too, I’ve already done it on the field! The ball went into the corner at the other end of the field, so I pretended to stretch myself. Thigh pain and I went. I’m not ashamed to do it. Seeing someone else do it. That’s where I got the idea from!”
Not really agreeing with the red card given to his player, he wonders about the “official rule” of being sent off for such a gesture. In the report, the arbitrator writes that Maseko engaged in “inappropriate and offensive conduct”. “After the match, the referee told my captain (Uni) that if I had asked earlier I would have been allowed, prompting the goalkeeper at The Athletic. The referee didn’t know why he was sent off because he gave away two. Completely different reasons.”
A 0–0 draw despite Maseko’s dismissal meant Blackfield & Langley were allowed to play again four days later, this time at Shepton Mallet. For the occasion, the opposing club rented a small toilet, which they placed directly behind their goal. A crowd eventually lost 3-2 to a 19-year-old home team.
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