“Why did a soccer manager give his team lighters?”/“Because they kept losing all of their matches.”

A pun about football (soccer) “matches” is:
 
Q: Why did the football manager give his team lighters?
A: Because they kept losing all of their matches.
 
The joke was posted to the newsgroup alt.humor.puns on December 25, 1997.
 
 
Google Groups: alt.humor.puns
Christmas Cracker puns
Dr R.H. Roberts
12/25/97
(...)
Q : Why did the football manager give his team a lighter?
A : Because they kept losing their matches.
 
Google Books
Time
By Jon Atlas Higham
London: Michael O’Mara
1999
Pg. ?:
Why did the soccer teacher give his team lighters? because they kept losing all their matches.
 
Google Books
Penguin Pocket Jokes
By David Pickering
London: Penguin Books
2006
Pg. ?:
Why did the manager give his team lighters?
Because they kept losing their matches.
   
Twitter
Nobia Parker‏
@nobia_parker
why the coach give his team lighters? coz they kept losing all their matches =P
4:34 AM - 19 Nov 2009
 
1 December 2009, The Sun (London, UK), “Have a laugh!,” pg. 36:
Why did the football manager give his team lighters? Because they kept losing their matches.
MICKEY MULLINS Galway
 
Twitter
Fatah‏
@nugrahafatah
Why did the football coach give his team lighters? Because they kept losing all their matches.
5:20 PM - 30 Dec 2009
 
Twitter
Rainie Wells‏
@RainieWells
Why did the soccer teacher give the team lighters? They kept losing their matches!!!
6:45 PM - 2 Apr 2010
 
YouTube
Jokes - Why did the coach give his football team lighters? They kept losing their matches.
jokesus
Published on Aug 19, 2015
Joke :
Why did the coach give his football team lighters?
They kept losing their matches.
 
Twitter
MARK ANTHONY KELLY‏
@djmarkkelly67
Q) Why did the football manager give his team lighters?
A) Cos they kept losing all of their matches.
2:24 PM - 6 Oct 2015
   
Twitter
Cymru Rich‏
@CymruRd
@timlovejoy Q) Why did the Chelsea’s manager give his team lighters?
A) Cos they kept losing all of their matches.
3:07 PM - 7 Nov 2015
 
Twitter
Shit Jokes‏
@ShitJokes
Why did the football manager give his team lighters?
Because they kept losing all of their matches.
3:09 AM - 17 Jan 2016
 
Twitter
Jokes UK 🔞‏
@jokesuk
Why did the football manager give his team lighters?
Because they kept losing all of their matches!
9:17 AM - 18 Apr 2016