That wee white thing inside the goal is the football
I saw the worst refereeing decision EVER live yesterday
by Steve Clare, Glasgow
Football writers often allege that fans give referees a slightly harder time than they deserve. It is true that those who only attend games in the press box risk becoming detached from the passion of those sitting outside and yearning for a specific result.
That’s why I always make a point of being a normal fan when I go back to Glasgow and watch my team Partick Thistle. No press pass, no free food, and no team sheets handed to me. I always thought it strange how much better referees look when you’re a neutral and how much worse they are when you’re a normal fan.
Now I have proof. Referees actually ARE worse when you’re sitting outside wearing a scarf. Yesterday saw the most bizarre disallowing of a goal I have seen in quite a while, in fact I’m going to say ever.
Of course the grave injustice was against MY team. Referees are biased against my team not YOUR team as you always thought. You read it here first.
Thistle were playing Greenock Morton, or managerless Morton, as I would have called them had I been in the press box after ‘Ton boss Ray McKinnon oddly upsticked to Falkirk overnight.
This isn’t personal bias at all but Thistle were leading 1-0 and playing the most exhilarating exhibition of total football since Johann Cruyff said to Johann Neeskens “you know you can pass to other people too“. Then came, what I am calling with nuance and no unnecessary fanfare, the greatest injustice in the history of football.
Kris Doolan, having bamboozled Morton with an earlier feint wrongly referred to by some as a miskick or a sclaff, rifled home Thistle’s second.
It hit the underside of the bar, bounced well inside the goal and span further backwards to hit the back of the net to give the Jags a 2-0 lead.
? Over the line? You decide. pic.twitter.com/tG24Xil8Md
— Partick Thistle FC (@PartickThistle) September 1, 2018
Or so we thought. Thistle players went to congratulate Doolan as dejected Morton midfielder Rory ‘beard of bees’ McKeown kicked the ball upfield (and accidentally over the touchline) for the restart. But referee Barry Cook, after a discussion with Jordan Stokoe his standside linesman (an obsolete phrase if there ever was one, as there are stands on both side), chalked off the goal and awarded a throw-in to Thistle.
The Glasgow Herald’s Lindsay Herron spoke of “chaotic scenes as Thistle celebrations turned to bewilderment and then anger.”
“It’s not even close. It’s ridiculous. Everyone in the stadium can see it’s a goal.” said Thistle manager Alan Archibald
Archibald was more relieved the error didn’t rob his side of points, using the forgotten word ‘stanchion’ when telling BBC Scotland:
“I’m on the halfway line as the ball hits the net. Kris Doolan misses an easy chance and he’s just having the start of the season where he goes and puts one in from 20 yards. It hits the bar, bounces half-a-yard over the line and then hits the back of the net and they kick it out, which would be a throw-in if it’s not a goal. And the linesman decides to chalk the goal off.
“There’s two other referees there as well. The referee could have overruled [the linesman], he’s seen it, and the other linesman can actually see it and just say, ‘the linesman has had a bit of a bad day there, can we help him out?’
“Nets nowadays aren’t like from years ago when you had a stanchion, there’s no stanchion there so it beggars belief.
Thistle did eventually win the game so justice was done in the end, but credit should go both to the Morton players who performed ably in spite of their boss walking out overnight and to their 321 traveling fans who provided a lively atmosphere and appreciated their players’ efforts.
There’s a weird footnote to this story.
It was at the same end of the same stadium 25 years ago when the now second worst decision in Scottish football (and therefore world) history happened.
In 1993 Dundee United were hammering Thistle as they were wont to do in the latter half of that century, when Paddy Connolly scored what seemed like an obvious goal which, like Doolan’s, would have secured a 2-0 lead. Michael O’Neill, now manager of Northern Ireland, took a right wing corner which was flicked on at the front post by John Clark. Connolly seemingly put United 2-0 up.
Meanwhile the ball bounced back off the stanchion, that thing whose passing Archibald was unlamenting yesterday, to Jags defender Martin Clark who caught it and handed it Thistle goalkeeper Andy Murdoch.
All accepted it was a goal, except referee Les Mottram who waved play on having neither seen the goal nor Clark’s handling of the ball. The goal was such a talking point that the media in Dundee were still discussing it 21 years later. United have had a bit of a bad patch since then. So bad they hark back to goals that didn’t actually count for comfort.
Sadly for Jordan Stokoe and Bobby Cook, we too will probably be discussing this call for quite a while.
Probably until football’s next worst decision ever takes place at the City End at Partick Thistle in another quarter of a century’s time
