Unlike young boys and girls in Juvenile League, football players at the professional level are highly-trained and disciplined to know and control their bodily functions. Before the start of a match, the matter of expelling human waste has been taken care of and through exertion, perspiration prevents the build-up of urine in the bladder. It either ceases or builds up very slowly depending on how many swigs from the water bottle a player takes at halftime or during breaks when injuries occur.
There will always be those players who have eaten the wrong foods and are suffering indigestion or food poisoning, or who have a touch of flu. So when a player has to go, he must leave the field. But professional players leaving the pitch for the toilet is a quite uncommon occurrence.
In the 1990 World Cup in Italy, England striker, Gary Lineker, came up against just this problem. He had an upset stomach and ended up having an accident on the pitch (he pooed on himself). Sergio Ramos also left Real Madrid playing with 10 men for five minutes during their victory over Eibar in 2018 as the defender had to answer an urgent call of nature. Ramos left the field to go to the toilet after 73 minutes at the Ipurua Municipal Stadium, with the match delicately poised at 1-1.
A Referee would treat leaving the football pitch to answer an urgent call of nature as he would treat a need to remedy equipment or uniform problem, allowing the player to leave the pitch. The player would report his return to the referee or another official, the player’s uniform and equipment would be checked, and the referee would beckon the player to reenter as soon as possible, even during play, as long as the reentry causes no unfair disadvantage to the opponents.
Relieving oneself on the field would be highly unsporting, causing a nuisance or unpleasantness for others, perhaps making that location on the field or ground unplayable, if only temporarily. Recreational players occasionally find themselves unable to find a sanitary convenience near the field, and a player might need to step off the field behind the goal to kneel in prayer (sometimes said to be “dribbling behind the goal”) and relieve a minor need. Defecation on or near the field (like Lineker), or in a nearby area, would be highly offensive to the Game and the public, and once the offense was committed, unless the event was severely involuntary, a player might be cautioned for unsporting behaviour.
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