Mogi Mirim, the Brazilian second division club owned by Rivaldo, suffered a bizarre sending off after defender Paulão decided to change his shirt at halftime.
From Reuters:
Paulão, who started the match wearing No4, was booked in the first half and got a second yellow six minutes after the break when the fourth official noticed he was wearing the same No3 shirt as his team-mate Fábio Sanches.
The centre-back had opted to put on a new shirt at half-time without noticing the different number. Mogi were losing 1-0 at the time of the dismissal and although they managed to equalise twice through Geovane, the hosts ended up succumbing to a 93rd-minute winner.
Mogi Mirim went on to lose 3-2 and Paulão will never change his shirt again. Not even to take a shower.
Here’s video of the dismissal…
That’s poor by the referee. Law 4 (The Players’ Equipment; p. 23 in the link below) says the correct procedure is for the referee to tell the player to leave the field to correct his equipment, and then to check that it is correct before re-entering the field. The only way there can be a caution is if the player re-enters the field of play without the referee’s permission. If the referee never told the player to leave the field to begin with, then there was no justification for the caution.
http://www.fifa.com/mm/Document/FootballDevelopment/Refereeing/02/36/01/11/LawsofthegamewebEN_Neutral.pdf
That makes far more sense. Thanks for sharing!