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English referee suspended after using scissor-paper-rock instead of coin toss

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14th November, 2018
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Referee David McNamara has been handed a three-week ban by the English FA for asking two captains to play rock, paper, scissors to decide the kick-off.

Football referee David McNamara has been banned for three weeks after he forgot his coin and asked two captains to play rock, paper, scissors to decide the kick-off. 
 
The incident took place ahead of Manchester City’s home Women’s Super League match with Reading on October 26 and involved their England skipper Steph Houghton and visiting captain Kirsty Pearce, the BBC reported.

A coin toss to decide who kicks off is a requirement under the Laws of the Game but McNamara left his coin in the dressing room and allowed the captains to play rock, paper, scissors to determine kick off and playing ends.

“The FA can confirm that referee David McNamara has been suspended for 21 days, starting from Monday 26 November, after accepting a charge of ‘not acting in the best interests of the game’, an FA spokesman was quoted as saying.

“This follows an incident in the FA WSL match between Manchester City and Reading on Friday 26th October when he failed to determine which team would kick off the match by the toss of a coin, as required by the Laws of the game.”

McNamara, who has the right to appeal against the FA suspension will be able to return to duty from December 17.

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