He must have left the Twister mat at home. Referee David McNamara has been suspended by the FA for 21 days, after he made two players play 'rock, paper, scissors' ahead of kick-off when he left his coin in the dressing room.
The Daily Mail have reported that the incident occurred before the Women's Super League match between Reading and Manchester City on October 26th. Instead of returning to the dressing room to retrieve the coin, McNamara made the two captains play the game to decide who kicked off.
England and Manchester City captain Steph Houghton was one of the players involved in the pre-match festivities.
EXCL: FA suspend referee for 21 days after he made players play rock, paper, scissors when he left his coin in the dressing room in lieu of toss: https://t.co/P3Nh7lIyWa
— Amitai Winehouse (@awinehouse1) November 13, 2018
The FA's women's refereeing manager Joanna Stimpson had this to say about the incident:
The referee forgot his coin and in that moment, in a TV game, he was really pushed for time, it was a moment of madness.
He obviously thought it was the right thing to do, he probably walked away, or the second afterwards, thought it wasn't the right thing to do.
It's not defendable. He should have been more prepared, he should have had a coin but he didn't. It was disappointing, it's not appropriate, it's very unprofessional.
The laws of the game state you toss a coin. I can't think it's something we are going to ignore. He wasn't taking the mick out of the game, it was just a really poor.
To be fair, this was not the worst of infringements. It seems like a slightly harsh punishment for something that had no effect on the actual game itself. Rules are rules though I suppose, and the FA have to be seen to be abiding by their laws.
