The U.S. Open Cup game between the Seattle Sounders and the Portland Timbers was a pretty heated affair last night which saw the Sounders ended the game with just 7 men on the field.
The referee was not a popular man after he issued three red cards to Sounders players, one of which came about in truly bizarre fashion. As he was in the middle of issuing a yellow card to Michael Azira, former Spurs and Fulham player Clint Dempsey calmly walked over to him, slapped his notebook out of his hand and tore it up, which earned him a red card, obviously.
The ref did need a police escort off the pitch, suggesting that he probably wasn't popular with the crowd either.
Police are literally escorting the refs off the field. Don't think I've ever seen this before. pic.twitter.com/qVxYyZmTaU
— Jackie Montgomery (@MissJMontgomery) June 17, 2015
The Sounders ended up losing 3-1 in the end, unsurprisingly given they had two other players sent off and lost another through injury towards the end of the game. You could say it was a bad day at the office for all concerned.
Via SB Nation