1952 the last time we got the desision?

I know we all go on about our bad luck with dodgy desisions but was it realy that long ago when a realy bad one went our way?
Refereeing controversies are nothing new. The difference in 1952 was that Tottenham were the beneficiaries of the official’s mistake. Eddie Baily, Tottenham’s inside right was allowed to touch the ball twice at a corner leading to the only goal of the game against Huddersfield at White Hart Lane.
The old football adage goes that ‘things even themselves out over the course of the season.’ In many cases this will be true – close calls for off-side, a goal given or disallowed or a penalty awarded for or against. However, Spurs still await retribution for the Mendes ‘goal’ at Old Trafford a few seasons ago or Juan Mata’s travesty of a ‘goal’ in last season’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

Perhaps, in the case of those two ‘goals’, the wrong will not be righted in a season – it might be more like a lifetime. Having supported Spurs for forty years I can not recall any occasion when something similar occurred either for or against Spurs. Just three months before I was born, however, Spurs benefited greatly from a referee making a serious mistake.

The Huddersfield ‘Goal’ Controversy

2nd April, 1952

It was a Wednesday afternoon match and Tottenham were at home to Huddersfield Town who were bottom of the table fighting against relegation while Spurs as defending Champions were in fourth position. The game attracted the lowest attendance of the season, 22,396 and was playing out to an uneventful and dull scoreless draw when Spurs were awarded a corner in the final minute. The referee took up a position nearer the corner flag than the goal and when Eddie Baily took the kick the ball hit the referee and rebounded to him. Baily immediately played the ball a second time, putting in a cross which Len Duquemin headed into the Huddersfield goal. The referee awarded a goal which brought uproar from the Huddersfield players and officials but even after consulting the linesman, the referee stood by his decision.

The referee had made a serious mistake as Baily should not have played the ball twice without another player touching it. Huddersfield should have been awarded a free-kick from the position where Baily played the ball for the second time.

At first, the Huddersfield players refused to re-start the game but there was no mass harassment of the referee and although everyone knew there had been a mistake.

The following day’s newspaper report carried the headline:

GOAL RAISES A STORM

‘Most Amazing Decision’

The report suggested that the goal could mean the match being replayed but time passed and the result had to stand.

In the next home programme, Spurs commented on the incident,

‘The referee’s decision is final, and even if we have been the gainers in this instance there have been previous cases in which we have been the sufferers.’

At the end of the season Huddersfield were relegated by three points and while the point they lost that day did not relegate them mathematically, an extra point from that game may have inspired the players to greater efforts in the final six matches of the season. Spurs went on to finish second behind Manchester United and ahead of Arsenal on goal difference so for once Spurs managed to put one over their North London rivals as a result of that game

 

I've been thinking Spurs' problem is that they're too nice, as a group. Swansea, who are hardly the nastiest bunch in the league, knew just how to dive when the crowd was booing the refs. They didn't get the fouls they were looking for, but it's the kind of thing that can turn games--and they certainly didn't get booked for their blatant dives.

Ratcheting up the pressure on refs seems to be the thing we're worst at. Neither 'Arry nor AVB seem to have it in them to push hard enough to make the refs fear, or maybe even respect them. In a way I salute their sportsmanship, but on the other hand I wish AVB would figure out a way to make refs regret giving the other teams the calls.

Last year one supposedly disinterested tally had us at 75 points if we'd gotten the calls we deserved. This year, astoundingly, we haven't gotten a pen.

 

Yeah, I agree. I'm pleased that we don't surround the ref and always look to pull a fast one like other teams but at the sametime we do suffer from not doing it. Dawson tries to be vocal about bad decisions but sometimes I feel we could do with Gallas ranting and being a bit of an asshole. Another thing that I really don't like is that referees seem to let a lot of pulling and pushing on Dembele go but when he does it he seems to give a foul away. It's getting a bit ridiculous now, he gets the same treatment every game and it usually ends up with him getting booked for very little whilst struggling to move the ball quickly at the other end and nothing coming of it. Dembele and others could do with kicking off a bit more with the ref to make sure he's aware of the grievance.

 

Bale's been trying,and got nowhere

 

Pulling and holding of players is ignored too often IMO. Because Dembele is strong enough to carry on despite someone hanging on to his shirt or arm is no reason not to ref it. You can take 'letting the game flow' too far.

Do the refs still address the teams before a game to make it clear what they can expect?

 

I hate seeing all the shirt pulling and pulling players back,and the ref doing nothing about it,and the commentators who say,when a foul in the area is committed,anywhere else on the pitch that would be a free kick,so WHY is it NOT a penalty

 

I am with YV, I also like the way we don't surround the ref when decisions go against us. To this day, I remain proud that our manager at the time, Martin Jol, was so diplomatic and honourable after the game when the Pedro Mendes "goal" was disallowed.

 

What can they tell them,i'm going to favour the bigger team,and give lot's of Rubbish decision's and rule out perfectly good goals

 

We are certainly overdue some good luck with refereeing decisions, all the luck we ever get is all bad. When you see some of the gifts the likes of Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal have been given this season alone, it does make you wonder if Spurs will ever get a turn.?....... I doubt it, Spurs are the unluckiest club around and have been for years.

 

It's one of those where I'm not quite sure where I stand. Players that get the decisions often tend to go down when clearly they don't have their feet taken away from them and so could stay up, which annoys me even though I can understand why they do it. Joe Cole's is a good example which Allardyce and some on here felt he was lucky to get a second booking for but I felt Cole was lucky to get away with. Equally I feel that it's not only that Dembele isn't getting any advantage played either and if he is they're certainly not being totted up against the player committing the foul as the ref never ends up booking them or talking to them.

Yeah, it's how I want us to behave but at the sametime I don't think it helps us. It's frustrating when you see virtually everyother side pressuring refs and getting away with it.

 

The new anti-diving rule is the perfect case in point. It turns out to mean, "It's a yellow for Bale when he dives and then again sometimes when he doesn't, as for anyone else, well, nine times out of ten we won't call it." (See Swansea's blatant dives, to name only the most recent example.)

Anybody else see the blatant arm tug on Ade in Swansea's penalty box and think, "Hey, that's a pen...if they actually follow the rules...which of course they won't."

 

yeah,anywhere else on the pitch,that would be a foul!,you couldn't make it up!!

 

Agreed. Because how can we say we are "better than them" if we act in the same way? We can hope that someday the refs will react to what is actually happening rather than (subconsciously perhaps) reffing according to the opposition players / crowd / manager / size of team, but the evidence seems to be against it. We laugh at the Stoke away match because what else can you do, but can you imagine if that series of decisions had happened to certain other teams / managers? (Come to think of it it probably wouldn't!) But actually we should be ranting because we ended up failing to get the Champions League by less than the points we lost there!

 

"I am with YV, I also like the way we don't surround the ref when decisions go against us."

And yet again we are in the hunt for the PL Fair Play crown.
There is just something pure and true about Spurs, no matter what occurs
on/off pitch on football matters. And it cannot be bought or sold.