Footballer with ankle-length hair gets two rivals sent off for hair pulling

Anguilla were already 5-0 down and heading for a heavy defeat when Aedan Scipio came off the bench.

What happened next was probably not in anyone's tactical plan.

There was already a sizeable gap between the two teams. Antigua and Barbuda are ranked 162nd in the world by FIFA, while Anguilla sit 210th, just one place above bottom ranked San Marino.

The 36 year old Anguilla international is difficult to miss on a football pitch. Scipio has incredibly long dreadlocks that reach almost to his ankles.

And against Antigua and Barbuda in the Concacaf Nations League, two opposition players were sent off after pulling his hair.

Scipio entered the game in the 69th minute with Antigua and Barbuda already leading 5-0 after scoring all five goals in the first half.

Within minutes, things became bizarre.

Scipio won the ball from Keon Greene inside his own penalty area and tried to get away. Greene, who had only just come on himself, responded by grabbing Scipio's long hair as he tried to run away with the ball.

The referee sent Greene off.

You might think the rest of his teammates would have learned from that.

Apparently not.

Deep into stoppage time, Shalon Knight also grabbed Scipio by his dreadlocks while trying to stop him.

The result was the same. Another sending off.

Antigua and Barbuda, despite leading 5-0, somehow finished the game with nine men after having two players sent off for pulling the same opponent's hair.

The dismissals did not change the result.

But by the end of the game, hardly anyone was talking about the five goals.

Instead, Scipio and his remarkable hair had become the biggest talking point.

Anguilla may have lost heavily, but going forward they might be able to use him as football's strangest cheat codes.