Not many were sure why, but in the 86th minute of this weekend’s Salford City-Bradford Park Avenue match in England’s sixth-tier league, Salford keeper Max Crocombe was sent off for something that happened away from the action on the field. Soon, though, it became clear: Crocombe had taken a pee break right there on the pitch.
For better or for worse, there isn’t any footage of the exact moment Crocombe ran off to the side of the pitch and relieved himself. There is, though, this video of fans singing about the state of Crocombe’s bladder either before or after the precipitating incident:
While the fans behind the Salford goal seemed to have been hip to the matter, there was still more than a little confusion about what transpired to incite Crocombe’s ejection. Neither of the two teams’ Twitter accounts knew what was going on:
The information would eventually leak out though:
The BBC has a couple statements from a Park Avenue official explaining what exactly happened out there:
“[Crocombe] was told by the steward twice not to do it and he went ahead and had a pee,” said Park Avenue secretary Colin Barker.
[...]
Barker added: “He went to the side of the stand as I understand it. I didn’t actually see it, but the referee definitely sent him off for it because he was alerted to it by his linesman.”
Crocombe himself later apologized for the yellowy tint his actions cast upon what was otherwise a bright Salford performance:
Hey, we’ve all been there. (Right?)
[BBC]