Sourced from http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/cockup-as-ref-tells-player-to-pierce-off-20110623-1gg7t.html
Thanks for this Alan! Ouch! Not sure how to classify this one. I guess if you stand around the Football fields long enough you see it all. Makes the checking by refs for the right coloured undergarments a bit tame. I wander how this got written up for the discipline hearing and do we have a mandatory sentence for this offence. Brining the game into... well what?
Cock-up as ref tells player to pierce off !
It's a refereeing call that has been branded one giant cock-up.
A player from a Melbourne team was left furious at the weekend when he was forced to sit out a game for having a genital piercing.
Advertisement: Story continues below Aaron Eccleston, who plays for the Old Hill Wanderers reserves in Oakleigh, had jumped up to challenge for a ball, however he mistimed his leap and was hit squarely in the privates.
Eccleston pulled down his pants to "check that it was still there", according to the opposition Swinburne Reserves, when the referee spotted his genital piercing.
Video taken from the sideline, and posted online, shows Eccleston being marched from the field by the referee into the change rooms as the watching crowd chuckles.
The pair then re-emerge before the referee shows Eccleston a red card.
Yang Wu, the president of Swinburne University Soccer Club, said the opposition was angered by the decision.
"We're the opposition team so if their player is sent off it's an advantage for us. We were like, well, you know, it happens," Mr Wu said.
"He pulled his own pants down.
"The player had jumped up for a ball and didn't time it well and it hit him square on that part. So I think he was in shock, he pulled his pants down to check that it was all there. And I think the ref just saw it from there."
Despite the setback, it did not appear to affect the Old Hill Wanderers' performance, with them romping home for a 3-0 win.
"We were beaten quite comprehensively," Mr Wu said.
The soccer club's website reportedly documented the win under the headline: "Old Hill Reserves Triumph despite Cock Up". However that headline had been amended today to read "Old Hill Reserves Triumph despite Red Card".
The Old Hill Wanderers have been contacted for comment.
The controversial decision comes after another incident last month when an umpire ordered an Australian Rules footballer from the field because his mohawk was considered too dangerous.
Simpson Tigers midfielder Nathan Van Someren was sent off during the third quarter of a weekend match against Otway Districts "because his hair was too dangerous" and might have poked another player in the eye, Tigers co-coach Leigh Walsh said.
The decision came as a shock to the 25-year-old who had played with the hairstyle for three years, and had played during the first and second quarters of the match.