{"id":141863,"date":"2025-11-15T21:58:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T21:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/141863\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T21:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T21:58:11","slug":"rushden-diamonds-game-abandoned-after-sexist-abuse-of-referee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/141863\/","title":{"rendered":"Rushden & Diamonds game abandoned after ‘sexist’ abuse of referee"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

AFC Rushden & Diamonds said any supporters who witnessed the incident should contact them<\/p>\n

A non-league match was abandoned after sexist abuse was allegedly aimed at a female referee, a football club has said.<\/p>\n

AFC Rushden & Diamonds said its match at Coventry Sphinx was called off at half-time after a comment from the crowd of a “sexist nature” was heard being directed at her.<\/p>\n

The Northamptonshire side said it was “deeply concerned and disappointed”.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson said it would “take the strongest possible action” if it established the person responsible was associated with the club.<\/p>\n

“A comment of a sexist nature was allegedly directed toward the female match official towards the end of the first half,” said an AFC Rushden & Diamonds spokesperson, in a statement posted on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Discriminatory language or actions of any kind have absolutely no place within our community club or the wider football community.”<\/p>\n

Attempts to identify the individual were unsuccessful and the matter had been reported to the “relevant authorities”, the club said.<\/p>\n

The BBC has contacted the Football Association and Coventry Sphinx for comment.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the club’s in-house media after the match<\/a>, Diamonds first team manager Elliot Sandy said the referee stopped the match while the culprit was removed from the ground.<\/p>\n

He said the match resumed, but that at half-time, she told the team she did not feel comfortable continuing.<\/p>\n

“I obviously condemn what’s happened today; there’s no place for it in football and I feel really sorry for her that it has actually happened,” said Sandy.<\/p>\n

The two sides both play in the Northern Premier League Midlands Division.<\/p>\n

Diamonds said any supporters who witnessed the incident or who had information should contact them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Images AFC Rushden & Diamonds said any supporters who witnessed the incident should contact them A non-league…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-141863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}