The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 letter word GOAL KICK
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
G
O
A
L
K
I
C
K
More clues leading to the result GOAL KICK
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "action on pitch" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case action on pitch = goal kick.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.