HINCKLEY AFC have suspended captain Luke Richards after allegedly thrusting his head towards a referee – leading to their game being abandoned.
Richards was the fourth Hinckley player to be sent off in the 70th minute with the club losing 4-1 to Coventry Copsewood in the Midland League Division One fixture on Saturday.
It's claimed he moved his head towards ref Paul Hands and was sent off, prompting the game to be abandoned with the Leicestershire and Rutland FA now investigating.
Lee Thomas was the first Hinckley player to be dismissed, picking up a second yellow card on 32 minutes while Marcus Jackson was also given his marching orders before play had restarted for his involvement in a fracas.
The next to go was Sam Agar after seemingly scoring Hinckley's second. However, the goal was ruled out as he was judged to have taken the ball out of the hands of keeper Sam Dutton and Agar was subsequently shown his second yellow.
That allegedly prompted Richards to thrust his head towards Hands and the match official duly brought the game to a close.
A club statement read: “Hinckley AFC can confirm that club captain Luke Richards has been internally suspended by the club pending an investigation.
“Richards was sent off in the 70th minute of Saturday's match against Coventry Copsewood, which led to the match being abandoned by referee Paul Hands.
“The club are analysing the video footage of the incident and we will make no further comment at this time, at least until we receive the referee's report and internal investigations are completed.”
A statement from the Midland Football League added: “The match was abandoned due to the alleged behaviour of a Hinckley player towards the referee.
“The investigation into the abandonment of the match will be carried out by Leicestershire and Rutland FA. A decision will be made shortly on whether the match is replayed or not.”
