Sent For A (Very) Early Bath

ARTICLE BY SuperSub

In December 2008, David Pratt, a striker playing for Chippenham Town was, during their 7th tier fixture against Bashley FC, credited with earning football’s fastest ever red card (from the kick-off) after being sent off just three seconds into the game, for what was described as a “lunge” at Bashley defender Chris Knowles.

“I felt hard done-to by the ref’s decision but he thinks it was a red card so I have to take it,” Pratt told local media. “The world record is not a big deal for me, it’s not something that I’m proud of.” Which was just as well really, because it wasn’t actually the fastest red card after all, once you added amateur football into the equation

Eight years previous to this, in October 2000, Cross Farm Park Celtic faced local rivals Taunton East reach Rovers, in a Sunday League game in Somerset.

The referee for that game, Peter Kearle, was known locally for being a bit of a stickler when it came to foul language directed at officials. He always made a point of talking to both team captains before his matches to remind them that any swearing directed at officials, would result in the guilty player being given an immediate red card.

As the players were lined up for the start of the game, with Cross Farm ready to kick-off, the referee raised his whistle to his lips just as the Cross Farm striker, Lee Todd, walked past him to get ready to receive the ball. Lee was standing beside the referee when the whistle went with what was described as “a particularly shrill blast”, right near the ear of Lee Todd.

Somewhat shocked by the volume of the blast & it being so close to his ear, Lee turned towards the ref declaring, “F*ck me ref, that was loud”. Kearle, being true to his pre-match word, immediately whipped out his red card and ordered Todd off for ‘foul and abusive language’.

Despite protests from both sets of players, the referee stuck to his guns & Todd had to leave the field with only 2 seconds of the game gone, leaving Cross Farm to play the remaining 89 minutes & 58 seconds of the game, without their main striker & top scorer. Undoubtedly spurred on by the perceived injustice of what they saw as a terrible refereeing decision, Cross farm went on to win the match 11-2, despite the loss of their striker just two seconds into the game.

“Anyone else would have done the same – he nearly blew my ear off,” protested the gutted striker after the game. Manager Mark Heard was supportive. “Players should be rightly sent off for swearing at the officials, but referees are supposed to use a bit of common sense.” Lee Todd was fined the grand sum of £27 for his ‘offence’ & also given a rather harsh 5 week ban.

There was a silver lining to his story though, as local & national media picked up on the story & Lee found himself courted by local television & radio networks, turning him into a minor celebrity for a short while. He also became a bit of a local legend and, according to some sources, is still known to receive free pints in his local & the surrounding areas even to this day, so he’s probably had far more than that £27 fine back in beer over time.

F*ck me Lee, that worked out alright in the end.

As an aside, Lee had played for several league clubs in the 1990’s, including a spell at Southampton, where he played the full 90 minutes in their 3-2 defeat at Anfield in the 1997/98 season