Swedish soccer player removed from game for farting

PERSHAGEN, Sweden (UPI) -- Audible flatulence resulted in one Swedish soccer player being ejected early during a lower-league match.

The Guardian reports that Pershagen SK defender Adam Lindin Ljungkvist, 25, was given a red card and sent out of a match against Järna SK's reserve team after the referee determined that his fart was "deliberate provocation" and unsportsmanlike behavior.

"I had a bad stomach, so I simply let go," Ljungkvist said. Then I received two yellow cards and then red. Yes, I was shocked, it's the strangest thing I have ever experienced in football.

Kristoffer Linde, who was playing on the opposite team of Ljungkvist, also admitted to the bizarre nature of the call but said he was able to hear the fart from his position on the field.

"I was standing a good distance away but I heard the fart loud and clear," Linde said. It's the strangest thing I've seen on a pitch, and I've been playing football since I was eight years old.

Ljungkvist said he asked the referee why he was being penalized for his decision to "break wind a little" during the game and determined the referee must have believed he directed his flatulence at the opponent intentionally, according to Vice Sports.

"I can only surmise that he thinks I did it up against an opponent, but to provoke someone with a fart would be pretty bizarre," he said. I just did a perfectly innocent fart, and got sent off for it.

Referee Dany Kako confirmed Ljungkvist's suspicions and stated he handed out a similar punishment in an incident that involved a player urinating on the field.

"I perceived it as deliberate provocation," Kako said. He did it on purpose and it was inappropriate. Therefore, he received a yellow card.

Pershagen SK and Ljungkvist eventually lost the game 5-2 and he expressed his displeasure with the call to Kako after the game.

"To provoke anyone with a fart is not particularly smart or normal. It's nonsense – I just broke wind and got a red card," he said. I spoke to the referee afterwards, I was annoyed, but there were no bad words. I just said he was a buffoon.