British Soccer Player Penalized for Kissing Opponent

WATCH: British Soccer Player Penalized for Kissing Opponent

A Bristol, England, midfielder says he kissed the opposing midfielder to avoid 'doing something silly' as the two opponents clashed on the field.

BY Thom Senzee

December 29 2014 1:10 PM ET

Mansell (left) and O'Donnell

An English soccer player says he only meant to defuse an on-field conflict with his counterpart from the opposing team by planting a quick lip-to-lip peck during a recent game, reports the BBC.
The Bristol Rovers' Lee Mansell, 32, received a "yellow card" foul warning for the stunt.
"I did it to defuse the situation," he told a local radio interviewer. "It's the first time I've been booked for kissing someone."
As a video posted on YouTube clearly shows, Mansell's unorthodox conflict-resolution strategy was effective. Once kissed, Gateshead Football Club midfielder J.J. O'Donnell, 22, appeared to be so caught off guard that all he could do was walk away.
But Mansell's wife had a question for her athlete husband when the game was over.
"I got in the car to go home and saw Twitter had lit up and my missus said, 'What the hell were you thinking?'" he told the BBC. "But we had a laugh and a joke about it with the lads afterwards. It's another thing to add to the list of daft things I've done on the football pitch."
For the record, Bristol beat Gateshead, 3-2.
WATCH the video below as Lee Mansell plants one on J.J. O'Donnell's lips: