PUBLISHED ONMarch 30, 2022 3:59 AMByAmierul RashidRule number one in football is hands off the ball.
During Tuesday's (March 29) international friendly between Singapore and the Philippines, Filipino defender Diego Bardanca might have forgotten said rule as he had a cheeky tug at Ikhsan Fandi's 'family jewels'.
It happened in the 10th-minute of the game as the Philippines were defending a corner.
A TikTok video of the incident was posted after the game, garnering over 192,000 views at the time of writing.
[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@shahid_ayid80/video/7080509056858754306?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=6944924152827184641[/embed]
When Bardanca's hand swooped down, Ikhsan instinctively reacted by taking a look at the referee. Handball ref, surely?
Not that it mattered as set-piece specialist Shahdan Sulaiman delivered a far post corner for Safuwan Baharudin to tuck home.
Singapore would eventually run out 2-0 winners as Shawal Anuar grabbed himself a late goal.
But what really got the fans talking post-match was the too-close-for-comfort encounter between Bardanca and Ikhsan.
A couple of netizens saw the humour in Bardanca's defendic tactic but was wondering if Ikhsan did as well.
Another provided a tongue-in-cheek explanation for why Bardanca did what he did.
After the game, Ikhsan himself got in on the fun by reposting memes of the particular moment on his personal Instagram account.
Strangely enough, the grabbing of an opposition player's crotch isn't all that uncommon in football.
In a 2015 Premier League game between Queens Park Rangers and Hull City, Joey Barton received a red card for doing so.
More recently in 2020, Preston's Darnell Fisher was handed a three-game suspension under violent conduct after he grabbed another player's genitals while defending a corner.
As for Ikhsan and Bardanca, the two are likely to meet again in Thai League 1 where they ply their trade.
Keep a lookout for Buriram United against BG Pathum United, things might get a little feisty.
