Try reading this with a straight face: Swedish footballer Adam Lindin Ljungkvist was sent off by a referee for farting loudly - deeming it “deliberate provocation” and “unsportsmanlike behaviour”. This, despite the honest admission that he did it because he had a bad stomach and "simply let go."
Yes, all this happened.
A report in The Guardian said that the left-back, who was playing for Järna SK’s reserve team against Pershagen SK, even asked the referee for an explanation.
I asked the referee, ‘What, am I not allowed to break wind a little?’ ‘No,’ he replied … I don’t get it but maybe he thought I farted in my hand and threw the fart at him. But I did not.
And as if the embarrassment didn't end there, newspaper Länstidningen Södertälje spoke to an opposition player about the incident as well.
It is probably the funniest testimony ever given...
“I was standing a good distance away but I heard the fart loud and clear. It’s the strangest thing I’ve seen on a pitch, and I’ve been playing football since I was eight years old.”
Lungkvist went on to plead his case on the 'provocation' count, saying it would not be smart or normal to provoke someone with a fart on a football field.
The referee Dany Kako meanwhile, just thought it would be okay to compare the situation to another one he had faced.
“Once there was a player who stood and peed next to the pitch. I showed him a yellow card, too.”
Nothing about smell was spoken about. Thankfully.
(All gifs are representational)