Drysdale given suspension as he reveals foul-mouthed rant that prompted bizarre incident in Cobblers game

Official squared up to Ipswich midfielder
Darren Drysdale.Darren Drysdale.
Darren Drysdale.

Referee Darren Drysdale has been given a 'backdated suspension' and warned about his future conduct following an incident in last month's League One game between Ipswich and Northampton.

The official squared up to Alan Judge in the closing moments of the encounter at Portman Road and appeared to lose his composure when tilting his head towards the Ipswich midfielder, who had appealed for a penalty.

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Drysdale apologised the following day and was taken off duty whilst the FA investigated.

A statement on Thursday afternoon read: "An independent Regulatory Commission has given Darren Drysdale a backdated suspension and warning as to his future conduct for a breach of FA Rule E3.

"The match official admitted that his behaviour during the 90th minute of an EFL League One tie between Ipswich Town FC and Northampton Town FC on Tuesday 16 February 2021 amounted to improper conduct.

"The suspension, which ran from 19 February 2021 to 10 March 2021, and warning were imposed by the independent Regulatory Commission during a subsequent hearing and its written reasons."

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In the written reasons, Drysdale explained why he reacted the way he did, saying: “Alan Judge, in my opinion, exaggerates his fall in a desperate attempt to gain a penalty kick for his team.

"I then processed what had happened for a few seconds before blowing my whistle and decided to caution Alan Judge for an act of trying to deceive a match official.

"As I blew my whistle Alan Judge shouted aggressively in a loud voice at me and from a distance of only 5 metres 'It's a ***** penalty you cheating bald ****!' Reacting completely out of character, I took exception to what I considered to be an offensive comment.

"I walked towards Alan Judge who then continued his tirade of abuse as he then, what I deemed as, aggressively and provokingly pointed his finger towards my face and shouted, 'you're a ****** cheating ****!'.

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"I accept that I should not have moved my head towards Alan Judge as this only inflamed the situation. At no time was there any physical contact between myself and Alan Judge.

"My action of moving forward was as a posture of authority and with the player being significantly shorter than me, this led to me looking down at him. I then issued a yellow card to Alan Judge for his exaggerated fall.”

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