Pratt Sets New Record for Fastest Red Card

That tackle you can see above (update: image has now been removed, but you can see it here) might be historic.

It’s by Chippenham striker David Pratt, 21, who slid in straight after kickoff and got himself a red card with just three seconds on the clock.

According to my calculations, if Pratt lasted just three of the 5,400 seconds that make up a 90 minute game then that’s 0.006% (rounded up) of the match. Not much of a contribution.

Chippenham play in the Southern Premier League (three divisions below League Two), making Pratt’s early bath the earliest in the history of senior football. The record was formerly held by Bologna’s Giuseppe Lorenzo, who lasted just 10 seconds in 1990.

But if you think three seconds will never be beat, then think again. According to Reuters:

…in 2000 an English amateur player, Lee Todd, was sent off after two seconds when he responded to the referee’s whistle to start the game by saying “xxxx me, that was loud” and was dismissed for foul and abusive language.

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Category: World Football