‘Happy non-league football day’ – Fans fear for referee’s safety after SIX red cards as match abandoned after 98 minutes
ONE non-league match descended into chaos before being abandoned following SIX red cards for one team.
The Southern Counties East Premier Division match was brought to a halt in the 98th minute amid reported “fears for the referee’s safety”.
Snodland Town were hosting Tunbridge Wells in the ninth tier of the English game when the match took a turn in additional time.
With the scores tied at 0-0 in the 98th minute Snodland Town saw FOUR players and TWO members of their management team dismissed by the referee.
The hosts had just SEVEN players on the pitch, but before the game could get back underway with three minutes of added time remaining, the referee abandoned the match.
Snodland Town posted on X: “The game gets abandoned by the ref for reasons still to be determined.”
While Tunbridge Wells’ official X account posted: “Flurry of red cards sees Snodland Town down to seven men, game abandoned with scores level at 0-0.”
Despite no confirmation of the exact reason for the abandonment, a Tunbridge Wells supporters trust suggested it was due to safety concerns.
The account posted online: “The game is abandoned with 3 mins of injury time left due to believed fears over the official’s safety.”
And they were quick to point out that their beloved club had not failed to score against an opposition fielding just seven players.
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They added: “Just to confirm, our boys did not play against seven men and fail to score,
“Three of the four outfielders were sent off in injury time before the ref abandoned the game.”
Fans online were in disbelief at the crazy ending to the game and made their feelings known online.
One wrote: “Crikey! Sounds like in the middle of the fight a match broke out! Ouch!!”
While another added: “State of that… how hard is it to behave yourselves and finish the game.”
A third commented: “You can tell we are in a golden generation of Non-League.”
While others noted that the hectic head-to-head had rather fittingly taken place on Non-League Day.
One fan joked: “Nice to see teams embracing #NonLeagueDay. The fans will be flocking back next week. Tremendous advert for the game.”
While a second wrote: “This is Non-League Day Heritage.”
And a third simply posted: “Happy Non-League Day!”
Snodland Town were within one sending off of being forced to forfeit the game as a 3-0 loss despite the scores being 0-0.
FA rules state that any team reduced to six players must forfeit the match regardless of the scoreline.