A crew of ball boys appeared to be sent off by the referee during a National League match.
Both Yeovil and league leaders Bromley mentioned the incident on their Twitter accounts during a match which Yeovil won 3-1 at Huish Park.
A tweet sent by Yeovil in the 84th minute read: “The referee has, no joke, just sent off one of our ball boys…”
85 | Update: he's dismissed all of them…— Yeovil Town FC (@YTFC) September 28, 2019
And they followed it up with a second tweet a minute later which said: “Update: he’s dismissed all of them…”
Bromley elaborated a little, saying referee Aaron Jackson asked one ball boy to leave when he withheld the ball from one of their players, Sam Wood, on two separate occasions.
83 mins | Interesting scenes as a ball boy keeps the ball from Sam Wood on two occasions and is asked to leave the field.— Bromley FC (@bromleyfc) September 28, 2019
Speaking on the BBC website, local radio commentator Chris Spittles said the ball boy in question got a warning, but “when the same ball boy repeated the trick shortly after the referee asked for them all to be removed”.
He added: “One steward was tasked with gathering them all in and leading them away down the tunnel. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
90 | The referee runs to get a ball for Adam Smith (because he's sent the ball boys off…).— Yeovil Town FC (@YTFC) September 28, 2019
To add to the bizarre spectacle, it seems Jackson was forced into becoming a makeshift ball boy himself as the game neared its conclusion.
A tweet from Yeovil sent in stoppage time read: “The referee runs to get a ball for Adam Smith (because he’s sent the ball boys off…).”
Yeovil’s victory put them one point behind leaders Bromley in third.
