Hundreds of referees have backed colleague David McNamara after he was suspended for using the game rock, paper, scissors instead of a coin toss.

McNamara’s case has gained national attention in the past week after the official was suspended for three weeks for using the game when he forgot the coin at the start of a game.

He was in charge of the Women’s Super League game between Manchester City and Reading in October when he realised he had forgot a coin for the toss.

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Rather than delay the game, he decided to use a rock, paper, scissors game between City and England skipper Steph Houghton and Reading counterpart Kirsty Pearce.

McNamara has been heavily criticised by the FA women’s refereeing manager Joanna Stimpson, but colleagues all over the country supported him and used a game of rock, paper, scissors in their games this weekend.

“A lot of us were thinking of David. We wanted to show solidarity,” referee Ryan Hampson told the BBC.

“Without me saying a word, four players came up to me and said ‘are we getting on the rock, paper, scissors today?’ as they had seen coverage of the issue.”

There is a feeling amongst the refereeing community that the punishment is excessive and unfair.

Ref Support UK, the charity which provides support to officials across the country, said the response sent a message to the lawmakers.

Chief executive Martin Cassidy said: “We can’t condone anyone deliberately breaking the laws of football.

“However, we understand hundreds took part. The level of support should send out a message that the punishment was disproportionate.

“This suggests people are willing to face a possible charge from the FA or their county FA as they feel so strongly about it.”

McNamara’s suspension will run from November 26 to December 17 and the FA have made no further comment after the weekend’s actions.

One of the main gripes from referees is that those in charge seem more concerned with punishing a referee for a harmless game of rock, paper, scissors, than they do with an increase in violent attacks on referees.

One Twitter user said he gets ’30 videos a month of serious referee abuse’ and labelled it a ‘joke’ that the ‘higher ups’ were quicker to deal with McNamara.

Although there has been widespread support for the official, who also operates in the EFL, they are keen to treat WSL games as they would a Premier League game and a lesser suspension or official warning is unlikely.