IRISH MIDFIELDER Alan Judge has strongly defended himself after a referee who squared up to him accused him of calling him "a c***".
In a bizarre set of circumstances, Referee Darren Drysdale squared up to Judge in a recent Championship game between Ipswich and Northampton.
It came just seconds after Drysdale booked the 32-year-old for going down in the box to try and win Ipswich a penalty.
Judge protested the decision strongly, which resulted in Drysdale aggressively pushing his head into the Irish player’s face.
Referee Darren Drysdale appeared to square up to Alan Judge before booking the Ipswich player in their goalless draw against Northampton this evening. pic.twitter.com/ZexMTxYIx7
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) February 16, 2021
Drysdale was handed a suspension following the confrontation with the written reasons behind the decision also published by the FA.
Based on his own account of the proceedings, Drysdale believes Judge called him the c word.
He said: "As I blew my whistle Alan Judge shouted aggressively in a loud voice at me and from a distance of only 5 metres 'It's a ******* penalty you cheating bald ****!'
"Reacting completely out of character, I took exception to what I considered to be an offensive comment."
Judge has since strongly denied making these comments saying he "won’t stand by and be accused of saying something I didn’t and not responding".
Judge said: "I said the incident was over as far as I was concerned when I walked off the pitch and that I wasn’t looking for an apology.
"I didn’t want to make anything of it because it’s a tough job being a referee but I’m not going to keep quiet when I’ve been accused of calling the referee a cheat and using the C word.
"I’ll admit using the F word but I said to him ‘you have got to be F…… joking me and I said that a couple of times to him. I never used the C word. I don't use that word and I didn't call him a cheat.
"My mum passed away last week - which is far more important than this - and I don’t need this hassle to be honest.
"Like I said, the matter was closed but I’ve got a decent reputation in the game and I won’t stand by and be accused of saying something I didn’t and not responding.
"Our media team have got some audio and it backs me up. Some people have said I should have come out straightaway and explained what I said but I didn’t want to do that. I was trying to help Darren. I said the matter was finished and it was but I have to make it clear now that I totally dispute what has been said by the referee."
