Drysdale accuses Judge of 'worst abuse I've received as a referee' as official gets four-game ban

Drysdale penalised the Irishman for diving in the closing stages of Town’s 0-0 draw with Northampton at Portman Road on February on February 16, before pushing his head towards the Ipswich player and then booking him as the two squared up following the incident.

The referee, in his submission to an independent FA regulatory commission hearing, claimed he was on the end of ‘the worst abuse he has received as a referee’ from Judge, accusing the Town midfielder of calling him a ‘cheating, bald c***’ prior to a yellow card being issued.

Drysdale, who hasn’t refereed since and as a result has already served his ban, has since admitted he should have sent Judge off for foul and abusive language during the incident. He sent off Flynn Downes just a few minutes later, issuing a second yellow card for comments made after the first had been produced.

Town manager Paul Lambert waves his finger at referee Darren Drysdale as he has words after the match. (Image: Steve Waller)

Drysdale’s statement reads: “Alan Judge then, in my opinion, exaggerates his fall in a desperate attempt to gain a penalty kick for his team.

“I then processed what had happened for a few seconds before blowing my whistle and decided to caution Alan Judge for an act of trying to deceive a match official.

“As I blew my whistle Alan Judge shouted aggressively in a loud voice at me and from a distance of only five metres ‘It's a f***ing penalty you cheating bald c***!’.

“Reacting completely out of character, I took exception to what I considered to be an offensive comment. I walked towards Alan Judge who then continued his tirade of abuse as he then, what I deemed as, aggressively and provokingly pointed his finger towards my face and shouted, ‘You're a fucking cheating c***!”.

“I accept that I should not have moved my head towards Alan Judge as this only inflamed the situation. At no time was there any physical contact between myself and Alan Judge.

Alan Judge goes down in the area after contact from . (Image: Steve Waller)

“My action of moving forward was as a posture of authority and with the player being significantly shorter than me, this led to me looking down at him. I then issued a yellow card to Alan Judge for his exaggerated fall.”

Judge insisted he did not want the matter pursued and that he considered the matter closed once he’d left the pitch that night, with neither the midfielder or Ipswich Town offering a formal submission to the hearing.

The club did, though, deny Judge had used the word ‘c***’ during the exchange, though the commission did not accept that submission.

Tarik Shamel, head of on-field regulation, said as part of a lengthy document released regarding the incident: “I spoke with the Ipswich Town club secretary, Stuart Hayton, on the telephone, who confirmed that neither the club nor Alan Judge wished to make any complaint against Mr Drysdale.

“Mr Hayton said that it was acknowledged that the referee may well have been reacting to something that was said and the player concerned did not wish to pursue the matter and did not want any action taken against Mr Drysdale.

“Alan Judge was unavailable to be contacted. Mr Hayton did, however, reconfirm the club and the player’s previous position.

“Mr Hayton was able to confirm that he was aware that whilst the player did not accept that he had used the word, “c***”, he did agree that he had used other insulting words towards Mr Drysdale, immediately prior to the incident in question.”

When approached once again, the commission was told: “His stance remains the same that he does not wish to be involved at all and he considered the matter closed when he left the field of play that evening.

“He wishes Mr Drysdale well with his refereeing career and does not wish to pursue the matter nor add any further comments or speak to the regulatory commission.”

Judge has recently returned to the club following a period of compassionate leave, following the death of his mother after a long battle with cancer.