A strange story unfolded on Dutch fields, where a fourth referee officially announced her engagement to a player in the first division, "Jef Hardfield," who plays for Emmen in the Dutch first division. Jef announced his engagement to fourth referee "Shona Shukrula," whom he met when he walked past her after being sent off in one of the league matches.
The story began when Jef was red-carded and remained standing at the exit line, angry and refusing to leave the field. Shona, in her capacity as the fourth official, approached him to talk and asked him to leave the pitch, and this moment marked the beginning of their relationship.
The Dutch referee Shona posted pictures of them during their vacation in the Italian capital, Rome, on social media, captioning it: "Official engagement to Jef Hardfield."
Shukrula has been officiating in the Dutch league since 2009 after obtaining her certified FIFA license. She has had the opportunity to participate in some international matches and is considered one of the highest-ranked referees in the Netherlands.
On the other hand, 26-year-old defender Jef graduated from the Feyenoord academy and has played for several teams before settling at Emmen. He has been called up once to the Netherlands under-21 national team.
In a similar case, "Ljubomir Vagička," a player from the Slovak team "Nitra," engaged in a strange act on the field when he proposed to the assistant referee during a match between his team and "Tatran" in the fifth division. Before the match began, Ljubomir knelt down and presented a wedding ring to assistant referee "Petra Lipatčikova," who was surprised by the player's gesture and announced her acceptance of the marriage proposal.
