{"id":159138,"date":"2025-11-25T17:13:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/159138\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T17:13:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:13:12","slug":"report-ireland-veteran-facing-lengthy-ban-after-crazy-judo-red-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/159138\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Ireland Veteran Facing Lengthy Ban After Crazy &#8220;Judo&#8221; Red Card"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ireland veteran Ruesha Littlejohn is facing a prolonged spell on the sidelines after a moment of madness saw her sent off for Crystal Palace on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>35-year-old Littlejohn joined Palace over the summer after a brief spell at Shamrock Rovers, and has spent much of the WSL 2 season on the bench.<\/p>\n<p>\n        Recommended\n    <\/p>\n<p>                        <a :href=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/article.url\" :title=\"article.title\" :aria-label=\"article.title\" class=\"not-prose col-span-2 md:col-span-1 ga-event\" data-category=\"Recommended Article Tracker\" data-action=\"click\" :data-label=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/article.url\" :data-value=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/article.url\"><\/p>\n<p>                                            <img class=\"aspect-video\" width=\"130\" height=\"73\" :src=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/article.image\" :alt=\"'Image for: ' + article.title\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Most of Littlejohn&#8217;s minutes have come in the League Cup, and she started for Sunday&#8217;s group tie away to WSL side Leicester City.<\/p>\n<p>Just before the hour mark, however, she would be dismissed for a crazy &#8220;judo&#8221; style hit on Welsh star Hannah Cain.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A simply sensational judo throw from Ruesha Littlejohn \ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DJDxlqAy8E\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/DJDxlqAy8E<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 IFB Media (@IFBMedia) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IFBMedia\/status\/1993077055563702289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">November 24, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p>As players tussled off the ball, Cain shoved Littlejohn, prompting the Ireland midfielder to grab the Leicester forward around the neck and throw her to the ground.<\/p>\n<p>The referee had no hesitation sending the Palace star off, and Littlejohn could now face a longer ban than the standard three games, such was the violent nature of the incident.<\/p>\n<p>READ HERE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/everton-manchester-united-red-card-david-moyes-645034\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">David Moyes Had Hilarious Response After Surreal Everton Red Card In Old Trafford Win<\/a><\/p>\n<p>READ HERE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/lucy-quinn-opens-up-on-milestones-mindset-and-why-this-ireland-camp-matters-645003\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lucy Quinn Opens Up On Milestones, Mindset And Why This Ireland Camp Matters<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ruesha Littlejohn facing ban for crazy League Cup red card<\/p>\n<p>The Telegraph <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/football\/2025\/11\/24\/crystal-palace-midfielder-ban-headlock-ruesha-littlejohn\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">report this week<\/a> that a lengthy ban awaits Ireland&#8217;s Ruesha Littlejohn after her red card against Leicester City.<\/p>\n<p>Littlejohn&#8217;s headlock tackle will almost certainly be ruled as &#8220;violent conduct,&#8221; a judgement that has traditionally brought a three-game ban.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Telegraph suggest that this incident may be looked on less favourably, with &#8220;particularly severe&#8221; incidents bringing the possibility of an even longer suspension.<\/p>\n<p>It was a moment of madness from Littlejohn, who has been named in the Ireland squad for this weekend&#8217;s behind-closed-doors friendly against Hungary in Marbella.<\/p>\n<p>Her Ireland teammates Abbie Larkin and Hayley Nolan are also teammates at club level, and both were on the field at the time of Littlejohn&#8217;s sending-off.<\/p>\n<p>Nolan was also caught up in the incident &#8211; in the above video, she is the number 15 who is also in the midst of confronting Cain when she is thrown to the ground. Larkin was one of the first players on the scene as the tussle developed.<\/p>\n<p>SEE ALSO: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/george-best-all-ireland-football-team-579861\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">George Best Fought Hard For An All-Ireland Football Team To The End<\/a><br \/>\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland veteran Ruesha Littlejohn is facing a prolonged spell on the sidelines after a moment of madness saw&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-159138","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\/159138","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=159138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}