Goalkeepers Time Wasting

After being distracted on Saturday by finding the Best Red Card Ever, I finally got back to my original idea today and wondered...

Has a Goalkeeper ever been sent off for time wasting?

It was the Nick Pope yellow card that got me thinking - it seems inevitable these days that if you're a goalkeeper and your team's leading by 1 goal with 15 minutes to go, that you play your part, waste as much time as you can and get yourself booked. The booking is meant to deter the goalkeeper from time wasting further but let's be honest, it doesn't.

So after much research, I've been able to find a single case, that's right, just once has a goalkeeper been sent off for this reason. And it happened in Ecuador's Primera Division in a match between Independiente and Barcelona.

The referee didn't just send one goalkeeper off (2 bookings for time wasting), he sent off 2 goalkeepers, both from Barcelona (the 2nd accused the referee of accepting bribes from Independiente to the 4th official who told the referee who subsequently showed him a straight red before he'd made it on) - all before half time! It's no surprise that Barcelona went on to lose the match with a striker having to play in goal.

This led to pure bedlam which can only be appreciated in video form.

(The good bit starts at about 4 minutes)

Source - YouTube Futbol Ecuador Review Channel

Perhaps this is why referees don't send off goalkeepers for timewasting.