27 December 2008 - I Doubt He Even Needed A Shower

On 27 December 2008, Chippenham Town striker David Pratt set a new world record. But it wasn't one he wanted to set.

Visiting Bashley for a Southern Premier League meeting, Chippenham's starting line-up included the 21-year old Pratt, but only for three seconds. Immediately after the opening whistle, he committed a lunging tackle on Bashley forward Chris Knowles, drawing a straight red card from referee Justin Amey. Bashley manager Steve Riley praised the ref's decision, saying "The lad's gone in with his studs showing and went straight through my player. It was a potential leg-breaker. The ref had no choice." Fortunately, Knowles was uninjured and, unlike Pratt, remained on the pitch.

Despite going down to 10 men so quickly, Chippenham took the lead in the 10th minute, but Bashley scored two late goals to earn a 2-1 victory.

Pratt's red card is the quickest ever issued to a starting player, beating the previous world record of 10 seconds set by Bologna's Guiseppe Lorenzo in 1990. The previous English record was 13 seconds, set by Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Kevin Pressman in 2000 for handling the ball outside the box. There have been a few substitutes sent off after no time, however, as they received their ejections prior to coming onto the pitch.

For his part, Pratt later said "The world record is not a big deal to me. It's not something that I'm proud of." In May 2009, he moved to his current club, Basingstoke Town, where his play in 2009-10 won him both the Manager's Player of the Year and the Supporters' Player of the Season awards.

27 November 2004 - Wimbledon's Game Sets Match Record

On 27 November 2004, two-year old club AFC Wimbledon set an English record by playing in their 78th consecutive league match without a loss.

The club was founded in June 2002 by former supporters of Wimbledon FC, after that club had relocated to Milton Keynes. The new team entered the English football pyramid in the ninth tier, the Combined Counties League, but rose quickly. After losing 2-0 to Withdean 2000 on 22 February 2003, they went unbeaten for the remainder of the season and narrowly missed out on promotion. Their unbeaten streak continued throughout their entire second season as they finished on top of the table in 2004 and jumped to Division 1 of the Isthmian League.

They passed the old record holders, St. Blazey, on 13 November 2004 by drawing 1-1 with Bromley in the 76th match of their unbeaten run. After a 2-0 victory over Dulwich Hamlet the following week, they traveled to Bashley for their record-setting match. Bashley went up 1-0 in the 9th minute, but were undone by set pieces. Wimbledon's Matt Everard equalized in the 60th minute with a header from a corner kick, then Martin Randall gave the visitors the lead with another header from a corner in the 89th minute.

Wimbledon's streak ended on 4 December with a 2-0 loss to Cray Wanderers, but they won the league for their second consecutive promotion.

27 December 2008 - I Doubt He Even Needed A Shower

On 27 December 2008, Chippenham Town striker David Pratt set a new world record. But it wasn't one he wanted to set.

Visiting Bashley for a Southern Premier League meeting, Chippenham's starting line-up included the 21-year old Pratt, but only for three seconds. Immediately after the opening whistle, he committed a lunging tackle on Bashley forward Chris Knowles, drawing a straight red card from referee Justin Amey. Bashley manager Steve Riley praised the ref's decision, saying "The lad's gone in with his studs showing and went straight through my player. It was a potential leg-breaker. The ref had no choice." Fortunately, Knowles was uninjured and, unlike Pratt, remained on the pitch.

Despite going down to 10 men so quickly, Chippenham took the lead in the 10th minute, but Bashley scored two late goals to earn a 2-1 victory.

Pratt's red card is the quickest ever issued to a starting player, beating the previous world record of 10 seconds set by Bologna's Guiseppe Lorenzo in 1990. The previous English record was 13 seconds, set by Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Kevin Pressman in 2000 for handling the ball outside the box. There have been a few substitutes sent off after no time, however, as they received their ejections prior to coming onto the pitch.

For his part, Pratt later said "The world record is not a big deal to me. It's not something that I'm proud of." In May 2009, he moved to his current club, Basingstoke Town, where his play in 2009-10 won him both the Manager's Player of the Year and the Supporters' Player of the Season awards.

27 November 2004 - Wimbledon's Game Sets Match Record

On 27 November 2004, two-year old club AFC Wimbledon set an English record by playing in their 78th consecutive league match without a loss.

The club was founded in June 2002 by former supporters of Wimbledon FC, after that club had relocated to Milton Keynes. The new team entered the English football pyramid in the ninth tier, the Combined Counties League, but rose quickly. After losing 2-0 to Withdean 2000 on 22 February 2003, they went unbeaten for the remainder of the season and narrowly missed out on promotion. Their unbeaten streak continued throughout their entire second season as they finished on top of the table in 2004 and jumped to Division 1 of the Isthmian League.

They passed the old record holders, St. Blazey, on 13 November 2004 by drawing 1-1 with Bromley in the 76th match of their unbeaten run. After a 2-0 victory over Dulwich Hamlet the following week, they traveled to Bashley for their record-setting match. Bashley went up 1-0 in the 9th minute, but were undone by set pieces. Wimbledon's Matt Everard equalized in the 60th minute with a header from a corner kick, then Martin Randall gave the visitors the lead with another header from a corner in the 89th minute.

Wimbledon's streak ended on 4 December with a 2-0 loss to Cray Wanderers, but they won the league for their second consecutive promotion. They were promoted twice more--in 2008 and 2009--and currently play in the fifth tier.