15 hours ago
3
“The recent Merseyside derby showed that it’s no longer unusual for a referee to book and send off players and managers after they’ve blown the final whistle,” notes Jason Janduy. “Are there any instances where they’ve shown their cards before the match?”
Mykola Kozlenko has this one covered. “The most famous case is probably Patrice Evra, playing for Marseille against Vitória de Guimarães in the Europa League in 2017-18, when he kicked a Marseille fan before the game.”
Evra, who had been named among the substitutes, was banned from European competition for the rest of the season, after which his Marseille contract was terminated by mutual consent.
“This also happened to Jean Fernandes, the goalkeeper of Cerro Porteño, playing in the 2021 Supercopa Paraguay against Olympia,” adds Mykola. “He was sent off for making obscene gestures to the opposing fans.” Cerro Porteño were able to replace Fernandes because the match had not started.
William Hogg has a vague memory of a team taking the concept of collective responsibility a bit too far. “Someone with a set of 1970s Guinness Book of Records will be able to confirm this, but an entire boys’ club team somewhere in Scotland were booked before they had even stepped on to the field,” writes William. “They serenaded the referee – who had issues with the same team in a previous game – with a less than complimentary chant upon his arrival.”
And while there are dozens of examples of cards being shown after the final whistle, it’s worth a reminder of the record-breaking match between Tongham Youth and Hawley Reserves in November 1969. This is from the Knowledge archive:
After the final whistle the referee went into both teams’ changing-rooms and retrospectively booked every player who hadn’t already been booked, for dissent. One player was in hospital at that stage, having sustained a nasty cut to his head, but he got booked as well. Another player couldn’t go to the game at all, so found someone else to play instead of him using his name. He was booked too, despite being at a wedding at the time.
More tables as works of art
In recent weeks we’ve highlighted league tables so eye-catching that they could be works of art. And they keep on coming …
League of Ireland First Division 2005: “Twelve years after three points for a win was introduced in Ireland, Sligo Rovers triumphed in the First Division, drawing more games than they won,” writes Aidan Harmon, who featured this league table in his very own book.
For the rest of this question, it’s over to Knowledge regular Dirk Maas.
Yugoslav First League 1988-89: Another league in which drawn games were decided by a penalty competition for a few seasons: two points for a win, one for a win on penalties, sweet bugger all if you lost on penalties. “Vojvodina, managed by Ljubomir ‘Ljupko’ Petrović, won the league title,” notes Dirk. “Had normal rules applied, Red Star Belgrade would have been champions.
“Two years later, Red Star won the European Cup final against Marseille on penalties after a goalless draw. Petrović, by now the manager of Red Star, set his team up negatively, feeling that their league experience would give them an advantage if the match went to penalties. He was right.”
Ekstraklasa (Poland) 1986-87: In the Polish top flight in the second half of the 1980s, teams got an extra point if they won by three or more goals and were deducted a point if they lost by the same margin. The result is a collection of numbers that looks more like a cipher than a league table.
Soviet Top League 1986: “From 1978 to 1988, teams were penalised for drawing too many games in the Soviet Top League,” writes Dirk. “In 1978 and 1979, points were deducted after the draw limit was ‘breached’. A ninth draw would mean one point deducted, a 10th draw would mean two points deducted and so on. From 1980 to 1988, the limit was set on a maximum of 10 draws.
“In 1986, however, Dynamo Kyiv and Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk were excused from this rule because they had delegated two or more players to the Soviet Union national team. Without this second rule, Dynamo Kyiv and Dynamo Moscow would have finished level on both points and goal difference. This would probably have meant that both teams had to play an additional single round-robin play-off.”
Instead, Kyiv lifted the trophy, and all Dynamo Moscow won was an asterisk.
Divizia A (Romania) 1988-89: “Steaua and Dinamo Bucharest won at least 30 of their 34 matches and scored 120+ goals. Only the top four had a positive goal difference.”
Eredivisie 2002-03: “PSV, Ajax and Feyenoord all won at least 25 of their 34 matches and Feyenoord finished third with 80 points. In seven out of the following 11 seasons, 80 points would have been enough to become Dutch champions.”
Meistriiliga (Estonia) 2007: Goals. Lots of goals.
You’re supposed to be at home?
“There were seven away victories in the Premier League on the weekend of 21-23 February, with Newcastle and Aston Villa the only home teams to win. Is this a record for a single gameweek?” wonders John Hudson.
Chris Roe has crunched the numbers and found a handful of gameweeks from the Football League in which nine away teams were victorious. There are more teams in the lower league, so it’s nine out of 12 matches rather than seven out of 10 in the Premier League. Still, 75% beats 70%.
The round of fixtures with the highest away win:home win ratio was in Division Four on the last day of the 1987-88 season.
-
Burnley 1-2 Cardiff
-
Cambridge 1-2 Carlisle
-
Colchester 0-0 Tranmere
-
Crewe 0-1 Peterborough
-
Exeter 1-2 Halifax Town
-
Hartlepool 1-2 Hereford
-
Leyton Orient 0-2 Wolves
-
Newport County 0-1 Rochdale
-
Scarborough 1-1 Stockport
-
Swansea 3-0 Darlington
-
Torquay 1-2 Scunthorpe
-
Wrexham 0-1 Bolton
Swansea, the only home team to win, moved above Leyton Orient to nick the final playoff place. And despite finishing seven or eight points behind the three other teams in the playoffs, it was Swansea who won promotion.
Other matchweeks with nine away wins including the Championship from 16-18 December 2016 and 17-18 August 2021, and also the last day of the 2008-09 League Two season.
Knowledge archive
“As someone who hates seeing players with 59, 88, 27 etc on their backs, when was the last time a team played with the shirt numbers of 1-11?” asked Stuart from Corby in 2020.
Denis Hurley writes: “Good timing from Stuart. On my blog I recently covered Mansfield Town beginning the new [2020-21] season with a starting 11 featuring the 1-11 on their squad list. Southampton underwent a big change in their numbering and for a period in their opening game this season at Crystal Palace they had 10 of the 1-11 on the pitch. Number 20, Will Smallbone, was the exception, with 7 missing. But the fact that striker Shane Long wears 7 means a 1-11 will likely be elusive.
“The last two teams to wear 1-11 in the Premier League were West Bromwich Albion in 2015 and Manchester United in 2008, but these were commemorative occasions for Jeff Astle and the Munich air disaster, respectively. The last instance of a Premier League team using the first 11 squad numbers was newly promoted Charlton Athletic at the beginning of 1998-99 – 1-11 was still in force in the Football League at the time – and the last example of a team already in the Premier League doing so was Queens Park Rangers in early 1995-96 after they tidied up their numbers that summer.”
Can you help?
“The top four teams in the Portuguese league (Sporting, Benfica, Porto and Braga) have all changed their manager during the current season,” notes Mykyta Shchehlov. “Has this ever happened before?”
“Which two teams have been drawn against each other the most in the FA Cup?” asks Melissa Gadsden.
“Daniel Farke could win the Championship for the third time this season,” notes Giacomo. “Who has won the English second tier the most? And are there any second-tier masters around the world?”
“Are player-managers now officially extinct?” wonders Michael Lloyd. “If not, how far down the English pyramid do you have to go before you find one?”
