Non-league official shows up to wrong stadium… 140 miles away

A non-league assistant referee made a major mistake on Monday afternoon – travelling to the wrong stadium for their match.

And it wasn’t an error that could be fixed quickly, as they had actually made their way to a ground that was almost 140 miles away.

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The official was scheduled to assist referee Harry Wager at the National League fixture between Sutton United and Southend United.

However, they ended up making their way to Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham, rather than Sutton on the outskirts of London.

It meant that they arrived at the Central Ground rather than where they should have been at the VBS Community Stadium.

And to make matters worse, Sutton Coldfield don’t have a team in the National League, with only one Sutton in the division.

‘This isn’t a wind-up’

This awkward news was revealed by Southend reporter Chris Phillips on X, as he provided the update in disbelief.

Phillips wrote: “There’s a change among the officials, not the referee.

“Being told this isn’t a wind-up but he’s gone to the wrong Sutton!”

The official’s error meant a very late change was made to the team for the match between Sutton and Southend with David Holden and Tom Hutton serving as linesmen, while Steven Hughes worked as fourth official.

With the mistake reported at 2pm, it was certainly too late for the original assistant referee to rush to the game.

It would have taken the missing official almost three hours to travel the 140miles from Sutton Coldfield to Sutton…

A Southend special

The official will have regretted not travelling to the right game on Easter Monday, as Southend put on a show.

The Shrimpers beat Sutton 3-0 thanks to second-half goals from Slavi Spasov’s goal and a double from Gus Scott-Morris.

Scott-Morris scored both of his goals in the space of three minutes, with all three strikes coming inside ten minutes.

The win for Southend saw them remain in the National League’s play-off places, sitting seventh with five games to play.

Meanwhile, they have two games in hand on rivals in their promotion push.

As for Sutton, their loss leaves them eight points above the relegation zone with just three games left in their schedule.

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If the mistaken official remained at Sutton Coldfield though, he’d have also managed to see a few goals.

Sutton Coldfield Town, who play in the Northern Premier League in Midlands Division One, won 3-0 too.

They beat Boldmere to move further clear of the relegation zone, in a league led by Anstey Nomads, who recently signed ex-Premier League midfielder Jack Colback before he retired.