A player in Sweden’s seventh division was sent off for farting during a match. And as strange as that sounds, it kind of makes complete sense once you’ve taken a look at the picture above.

From the Guardian:

Adam Lindin Ljungkvist, who was playing at left-back in the match between Järna SK’s reserve team and Pershagen SK, was shown a second yellow card late on in what local media called “bizarre circumstances”.

“I had a bad stomach, so I simply let go,” the 25-year-old told Länstidningen Södertälje. “Then I received two yellow cards and then red. Yes, I was shocked, it’s the strangest thing I have ever experienced in football.

“I asked the referee, ‘What, am I not allowed to break wind a little?’ ‘No,’ he replied … I don’t get it but maybe he thought I farted in my hand and threw the fart at him. But I did not.”

The referee, who admits to previously booking a player who “peed next to the pitch,” says he felt the fart was “deliberate provocation” from Ljungkvist. So who knows what he would have done to Gary Lineker for taking a sly dump on the pitch during the 1990 World Cup. Leo Messi’s tendency to vomit during matches would likely also spell trouble.

This story has made me realize that we need more tactical farting in football. It could be the new tiki-taka.