Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood was shown a yellow card for the most bizarre of reasons while on international duty for New Zealand.
The 33-year-old bagged a hat-trick of headers for his country in the early hours of Friday (GMT) as Fiji were thumped 7-0 at the Sky Stadium in Wellington. With his work done, Wood was substituted just past the hour mark but found himself on the end of a booking after coming off the pitch.
According to the BBC, Wood was disciplined by referee Norbert Hauata for signing autographs and taking photographs with fans as the game continued. The Reds ace had come off to a standing ovation and went up to the stands to mix with supporters, then was booked when he made his way back to the side of the pitch.
“If that’s the rules, that’s the rules,” Wood told France 24. “Just doing something nice and trying to sign for the fans.”
His treble was Wood’s second in as many outings for the All Whites, having also netted three goals against Samoa in November. Forest defender Tyler Bindon, who is on loan at Reading, also got on the scoresheet.
New Zealand will take on New Caledonia in Auckland on Monday with a place in the 2026 World Cup at stake. “It’s all about the team,” Wood said.
“It was a dominant first half and we kept it going into the second half. The team did really well in that sense.”
“We know how good New Caledonia are and we’re going to have to be ready for them,” Wood added. “We know they’re going to cause us problems. We need to focus on doing recovery well now and be ready to go Monday.”
In a separate interview with New Zealand publication Stuff, Wood said of his yellow card: “It’s very interesting. We’ll just leave it at that.”
Boss Darren Bazeley is quoted as saying he “wasn’t sure what happened there”. He said: “There’s no harm done. It’s a yellow card that doesn’t carry over so he’ll be fine.”
