Joey Barton, England’s would-be philosopher soccer warrior poet, gave us this interesting moment during the weekend’s QPR/Reading match. Barton’s former teammate at Newcastle United, Danny Guthrie, lay on the ground with an injury. Barton figured it would be a good time to give Guthrie’s groin a nice little massage with his cleats.

Lads will be lads right?

Barton took to Twitter to say it was a all a joke.

Considering Barton reportedly once put out a cigar in a teammate’s eye at the Manchester City Christmas party years ago, Guthrie got off easy with nothing more than a very public #balltickle.

Related: Andre Wisdom: English Soccer Player Gets Lost Driving to Stadium, Abandons Porsche in Mud