Footballer is sent off for killing a chicken on the pitch

A Croatian footballer, Ivan Gazdek, was reportedly been sent off for kicking a chicken to death and then trying to throw its limp body off the pitch.

The chickens ran onto the pitch (in a field) during a semi-professional match between NK Jelengrad and Jasenovak on Saturday.

In a video, Gazdek is seen getting angry and chasing the chickens away after they stormed the pitch while Jelengrad were in the lead at 2-1.

When that isn’t enough, he appears to kick one, and it immediately falls to the ground.

Unphased, Gazdek is then seen to pick up the chicken’s body and, on the second attempt and in a blaze of white feathers, throw it over a fence so he could get on with his game.

Speaking to a Croatian news channel 24 Sata, he said that he got sent off by a referee for “unsportsmanlike conduct” and claims that it was not an intentional move, but that he was “nervous”.

The player said:

Believe me, it was not intentional. The result was far from certain at that moment and I was nervous. Chickens are constantly entering the field, so the game must be stopped. The terrain is full of faeces, these are unhygienic conditions.

I ran to the chickens a little to chase them away, I swung my foot and killed one by accident, f*** it.

According to the site he later wrote a note of apology to the owner of the chickens and bought her another one to replace the one that he'd killed.

Despite the poultry murders and being one man down for the remainder of the match, NK Jelengrad managed to come back and comfortably won the game 8-1.

Gazdek also reiterated that he does not hate animals, as he has had many pets, including a recently-dead parrot, so we shall take his word on that one.

H/T: 24Sata

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