Had a fling before the match! (6)
I believe the answer is:
tossed
'had a fling before the match' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'had a fling before' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'had' could be 'd' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'd' is present in the answer.
'fling' could be 'toss' (synonyms) and 'toss' is found in the answer.
'before' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is found in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tossed that I've seen before include "Christian festival" , "'Threw, turned over (6)'" , "Threw up lightly" , "Pitched" , "Threw casually" .)