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What would happen when a player, after being shown the red card, refuses to leave the pitch?

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    Arrested for trespassing?
    – Ben Miller
    Commented Mar 28, 2014 at 19:14
  • The reason I'm voting to close this older question, is because the newer question has attracted answers with more up-to-date information. Commented Oct 7, 2017 at 3:35

1 Answer 1

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According to the FIFA Laws of the Game 2013/2014, a player that has been sent off the field is considered an outside agent:

Outside agents
Anyone not indicated on the team list as a player, substitute or team official is deemed to be an outside agent, as is a player who has been sent off.

If an outside agent enters the field of play:
• the referee must stop play (although not immediately if the outside agent does not interfere with play)
• the referee must have him removed from the field of play and its immediate surroundings
• if the referee stops the match, he must restart play with a dropped ball from the position of the ball when the match was stopped, unless play was stopped inside the goal area, in which case the referee drops the ball on the goal area line parallel to the goal line at the point nearest to where the ball was located when play was stopped

In November 2009, amateur footballer Paul Cooper was given a red card and refused to leave, yelling and arguing with the referee. The referee showed him a second red card, and he still refused to leave. Cooper ended up getting shown the red card 6 times over a period of 5 minutes before he left the game, and play continued. The Scottish Amateur Football Association banned him from football for two years and fined his team £150. (Source).

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    6 red cards in 5 mins has to be some kind of record!
    – RoB
    Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 9:00
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    A player can only be sent-off once in a match, so I'm pretty confused as to why the referee thought it was correct procedure to continue showing the red card. Furthermore, given this was an amateur match, it's mind-boggling that the referee didn't abandon the game after two minutes, let alone after five minutes of a sent-off player refusing to leave the field. Commented Apr 9, 2014 at 0:24

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