It never happened before the 21st century, but now it’s occurred five times in 25 years.
When Moussa Sissoko was sent off against Burnley on Friday, he became the fifth Watford player to commit two red card offences at Vicarage Road in the same season.
It would be wrong to say the captain actually saw red twice though, as his first misdemeanour was only picked up after the game with Blackburn in October and he was banned retrospectively.
The Frenchman joins Robert Page, John Eustace, Miguel Britos and Hassane Kamara as the quintet of Watford players who have picked up two red cards in the same campaign at Vicarage Road.
Interestingly, three of the five were club captains: Page, Eustace and Sissoko.
The fact no Watford player was dismissed twice at home in the same season until 2000 perhaps shows how much the game has changed.
Diving to the floor to try and convince the referee to book a player would doubtless have been frowned upon in the 70s and 80s, an era during which what is now considered a bookable offence challenge would have been seen merely as a good, robust tackle.
Going even further back, it’s hard to imagine too many players – never mind captains – getting themselves booked for dissent to an official either side of the Second World War!
The five players, and the games in which they picked up their red cards, are listed at the end of this article.
Britos was sent off four times during his 74 appearances for Watford, though the pair he picked up in the 2016/17 campaign were both for two yellows.
His more ‘infamous’ dismissal was in August 2017 when he took out Brighton’s Anthony Knockaert with a massive lunge in front of the Sir Elton John Stand.
Although he earned kudos among Watford fans because of who it was he poleaxed, Britos issued an apology after the game.
"I would like to publicly apologise for my red card on Saturday," said the Uruguyan.
"It was not my intention to hurt the Brighton player, and I am happy he was okay and able to carry on playing the match.
"My timing was wrong but there are no excuses and I was very sad when I was in the dressing room.
"I know I let the coach, my team-mates, the fans and everyone down and for this I am very sorry."
For anyone old enough to remember Roger Joslyn, it’s unlikely he was ever called upon to apologise for any of his tough tackling . . .
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Britos ended his career with nine red cards, working out at roughly one every 30 games.
The second of Page’s two red cards in the 2000/01 season came in a fixture where, like on Saturday, Watford had two players sent off in the same game.
Throw in the name of the referee at Vicarage Road that February night – Rob Styles – and it becomes less surprising.
Page was shown a straight red for apparently bringing down the breaking Marcus Bent five minutes before half-time, but replays showed both minimal contact and three other defenders closing in.
However, Styles brandished a red and then booked Heidar Helguson for dissent.
The Icelandic striker was still angry four minutes later when he fouled John Curtis and joined Page back in the dressing room following a second bookable offence, with Blackburn going on to win the game 1-0, Bent netting from an Eyal Berkovic cross in the 72nd minute.
At 46 days, Page holds the dubious record of collecting two red cards at Vicarage Road in the same season in the quickest space of time.
Despite his combative playing style, current Derby County boss Eustace was only sent off four times in a career that spanned more than 400 games – and two of them came while at Watford during the 2007/08 season.
And, wait for it – one of them was issued but none other than Mr Styles, who showed Eustace two yellows in a 0-0 draw with Stoke.
Then, in the first leg of the play-off semi-final against Hull later in the season, Eustace was shown a straight red after an hour of the 2-0 defeat – though that card was later rescinded.
Just like Eustace, Kamara has picked up half his career red cards in one season at Vicarage Road.
His first came in the 1-0 win over Burnley in August, the night when Tom Cleverley scored on his final start for Watford.
Then in the home game with Millwall in December 2022, Kamara was shown a straight red for shoving over Danny McNamara.
Already a goal up at that stage, Millwall went on to win 2-0 – their second goal was scored by Zian Flemming . . . who was the player shoved over by Sissoko on Saturday.
Watford only had 11 red cards in 50 years, between 1898 and 1948: the most recent 11 have taken just over two years.
The five Watford players who have collected two red cards in games at Vicarage Road during the same season are:
Robert Page: 06/01/2001 v Everton; 20/02/2001 v Blackburn Rovers.
John Eustace: 15/03/2008 v Stoke City; 11/05/2008 v Hull City.
Miguel Britos: 27/11/2016 v Stoke City; 04/04/2017 v West Bromwich Albion.
Hassane Kamara: 12/08/2022 v Burnley; 26/12/2022 v Millwall.
Moussa Sissoko: 26/10/2024 v Blackburn; 18/04/2025 v Burnley.
• Additional stats from Jon Sinclair's WFC database at https://wfc.net/Database
