Footballer red carded after jumping into the stand to confront a fan when being subbed off

Hawick Royal Albert footballer Paul Tansey gets red carded after jumping into the stand to confront a fan when being subbed off.

It came in the 88th minute the Scottish Cup First Preliminary Round tie against East of Scotland League Premier Division outfit Penicuik Athletic, who went on to win 2-1 in extra time on Saturday afternoon.

The incident was included on the club’s Youtube channel, PenicuikAthTV, then the footage was uploaded onto social media, showing what happened, with Penicuik’s tweet also going viral.

Penicuik went 1-0 up on 78 minutes thanks to Niall Kemp, but Connor Elliot got a leveller for Hawick on the 95 minute, taking the game to extra time, with Daryl Healy netting the winner before half time.

88’ | 🟥 RED CARD for Hawick’s Paul Tansey, who as he is being substituted, takes his shirt off and jumps into the stand to go for a supporter pic.twitter.com/nD50pqbef0

— Penicuik Athletic (@PenicuikAth) August 1, 2026

pic.twitter.com/11MDtZUzXm

— Bradley🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (@bjustwafc) August 2, 2026

Penicuik Athletic (@PenicuikAth) tweeting during their game: “88’ | 🟥 RED CARD for Hawick’s Paul Tansey, who as he is being substituted, takes his shirt off and jumps into the stand to go for a supporter.”

Paul eventually gets told to clear off, fans around them in disbelief, some stunned, some laughing, others move out the way or duck, and some pulled him away in an attempt to stop the situation from boiling over further.

The fan who the player was going for remains sat down and smiles when confronted, their faces close together. Players and staff watch from the dugout and touchline.

Paul takes himself away after, jumps back down, points back towards the stand as the referee holds up a red card in his direction, then makes his way down the tunnel before the match is able to get underway again.

The club have left comments on for their gone viral tweet, getting over 5 million views and over 8,300 likes, but have turned comments off on their Facebook.

Other accounts on Twitter have posted it, the more reaction it got, the more views it picked up.

Kevin Strathdee (@strabo1888) replied to their tweet: “Add in the truth and how much the lad in the stand shit himself after giving abuse about personal matters, deluded”

Penicuik Athletic’s Ryan Harding spoke after the win: “The whole carry-on that happened, I think we were wee bit taken back what was happening, sort of left us bit stunned, like the whole carry-on with a red card and what happened.”

Hawick, who last season won promotion to the East of Scotland League Second Division, are yet to comment on the matter.

🗣️ Ryan Harding after today’s win at Hawick pic.twitter.com/152LPLojIT

— Penicuik Athletic (@PenicuikAth) August 1, 2026

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏆 Watch the extended highlights of yesterday’s Scottish Gas Men’s Scottish Cup 1st Preliminary Round tie against Hawick Royal Albert, now available from PenicuikAthTV pic.twitter.com/FqJKLZdqMZ

— Penicuik Athletic (@PenicuikAth) August 2, 2026

Meanwhile, there was praise from Facebook user Chris Donkin: “A very eventful game ! .. and a great day out, Hawick Royal Albert FC are a fine club and their excellent ground (with a bar built in to the stand) is a great place to visit.”

The Road to Wembley from Scotland wrote in their Facebook post: “In August 1976 two 18 year olds (Chris Donkin and Norman Kidd) left Penicuik and headed south for a hitch-hiking tour of Britain. Yesterday, 50 years later, me and Norman headed south from Penicuik again. This time we only got as far as Hawick for the Hawick Royal Albert FC v Penicuik Athletic match in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Preliminary Round One. Same people, same pose! How the world has changed over the last 50 years. One thing has not changed – when we are in each others company we still laugh like teenagers.

“The match itself was eventful. It was played on a fiery surface with a strong wind blowing, making good football difficult. Despite the conditions Penicuik soon wrestled control from the enthusiastic Royalists who ply their trade two divisions below the Rookie Cuikie. After a relatively even goalless first half the visitors made good use of the following wind and laid siege to the Hawick goal. It took the Cuikie until the 79th minute to convert their dominance into a scoreline advantage. From a long kick out from the goalie the alert Cuikie forward Niall Kemp controlled the ball, shrugged off the last defender and beat the Hawick custodian at his near post. It looked at this stage as if Penicuik would calmly play out a 1-0 win and progress to the next round of the cup. Conversely, as it transpired, the match was just about to ignite.

“After 89 minutes Hawick RA chose to substitute their best player – the mercurial Paul Tansley. Tansley played for Cuikie for a couple of seasons about 7 or 8 years ago and it was maybe this reason why he was singled out for some barracking from a big lad in the Cuikie travelling support. When he was subbed the shaven headed Tansley could not resist the temptation to leap over the barrier into the stand to confront his critic. He had to be restrained by the ever vigilant Penicuik Athletic President Andy Penman and was eventually led away to the sanctuary of the changing rooms but not before the ref flashed a red card at him for his Cantona-like contribution to the afternoon’s entertainment. I missed all of this because I was in the toilet having a pee. However, while I was riddling my jimmy, the whole incident was being captured on the excellent Penicuik Athletic TV highlights package and can be viewed via this link https://www.facebook.com/reel/37358719520441357?locale=en_GB – go to the 6 minute mark. It is so good to have Scottish football back after all the sterile World Cup nonsense earlier in the summer!

“Against all the odds the underdogs from Hawick scored in stoppage time with virtually the last kick of the game and hence the 90 minutes finished 1-1 and the match headed for extra time. Playing against the wind in the first additional period the Cuikie played with control, skill and discipline and retook the lead when Daryl Healy scored from close range. In the second period of extra time Penicuik used the wind to manage the game by taking long balls passed to the forward players towards the corner flags. The plucky underdogs were not able to get a second equaliser and the match finished Hawick RA 1 Penicuik Athletic 2 AET.

“The Rookie Cuikie can now look forward to a home tie against Golspie Sutherland in Preliminary Round Two in three weeks time. The Cuikie faithful are dreaming of a cup run similar to the magical adventure of 2019 when Penicuik eventually bowed out to Partick Thistle in the third round having beaten Stenhousmuir in round two. Paul Tansley starred for the Cuikie in that run but given his veteran status and the potential of a long suspension coming his way I am not sure if he will take part in another Scottish Cup tie. For those currently donning the Penicuik Athletic jerseys there is still all to play for.”