Former Albion player Russel Bromage found out to his cost the unusual methods of some parks' referees.

The ex-Albion player can now be found turning out for the Sunday side Crown & Anchor, and he was staggered to be shown a yellow card for asking the referee if he could go off because he was injured.

And to add insult to his injury, Bromage has been fined £7.00 for the offence.

Bromage, 42, is not appealing against his booking but after a distinguished career as a pro, he understandably found the incident quite ridiculous.

The left-back made two appearances for the Seagulls between 1990 and 1992, after joining the club on a free transfer from Bristol City.

But it was with Port Vale where he made his reputation, clocking up 347 appearances over ten years for the Potteries club and he was voted their player of the season in 1980-81.

Bromage can now be seen at Buckingham Park as opposed to Vale Park, where he turns out for the Shoreham-based Crown & Anchor in Sussex Sunday Division Six.

He said: "It was amazing. My knee was really starting to hurt and I said: 'How long is there left?' The referee said there was 15 minutes remaining.

"Then he announced that he didn't want anyone to speak to him for the remainder of the match. The ref then booked me for asking if we could make a substitution because I wanted to go off.

"All the other players around me were their players, and they couldn't believe it. When I asked why, he said he wasn't going to have people speak to him.

"It was a good game but the referee was a bit strange. The referee was antagonising both sides and I don't know why because there were no bad fouls. I never came across anything like this in the rest of my career."

Bromage has found Sunday League football quite a shock to say the least and admits the standard is rather different to what he is used to.

He added: "We are the worst team in the world. We are absolutely garbage. The standard is very very poor. But I admire the dedication of Sunday League players. It can be pouring with rain and everyone has been out the night before but they still turn up.

"They are probably more dedicated than players on a Saturday. But having said that we are grateful if we get 13 to turn up each week.

"I play anywhere really apart from in goal, I'm really crap in goal. I've only played about five games for them this season. I'm waiting to see a specialist about my knee."

Bromage also admitted he prefers to keep his past hidden from the Crown & Anchor's opponents.

"I don't tell them anything," he said. "It would be like a red rag to a bull."

Park Life hopes Russel is not on the receiving end of too many crunching challenges after this article.