After the incidents at Yeovil the other night, when Yeovil scored a goal when they allegedly should have given the ball back from a throw, it had me thinking. Yeovil, in the 2nd period of extra time took the lead and then subsequently let Birmingham score unaided. Surely this is illegal and against the FA laws of the game!! Can someone please explain to me wether or not a team can let an opponent score on purpose? If i had a bet on yeovil to win in extra time, then i'd be absolutely furious, and would demand, at minimum, my money back! Yeovil scored a genuine equaliser in 90 minutes, so why should they then let Birmingham score, because some people deem it un-sportsmanlike?? I'm really baffled by this, and other occasions when teams let opponents score goals. If a ref has not stopped play, then you should carry on playing. Teams, and players, should be fined, punished and suspended if they have on purpose let an opponent score. I just find it an absolute disgrace. And even tho i'm not a Yeovil or Birmingham fan, nor had i any bets on the game, i'm actually fuming and disgusted by this..a) for Birmingham to be moaning, and b) that Yeovil gave them a goal for nothing. Does anyone else have any thoughts on all of this, or am i making a mountain out of a mole hill?
I think what people are forgetting about this whole situation, the bloke who was down wasn't actually injured and just wasting time, so as far as im concerned Yeovil didn't do anything wrong.
I think it was a bit of a shambles really and it should be up to the ref to stop play. But when a team puts the ball out like Birmingham did I thought it was then very unsportsmanlike for Yeovil to do what they did as clearly the Birmingham players were expecting them to give the ball back, surely it takes the gloss of you scoring goals like that aswell!!! In that situation I think Yeovil should have straight away let Birmingham score rather than waiting until extra time.
I have to disagree with you PTC - we're in the last minute of a cup tie, one goal down..and the opposing team blatantly try to timewaste by going down and feigning an injury. If anyone should be putting the ball out, it should be from a team who's player has gone down, not from the opposing team - let them mske the call. In my eyes, it's a form of match-fixing, and both teams (more so Yeovil for letting them score) should be punished - starting with Birmingham forfeitting a goal in their next game ;-)
but don't you think that birmingham player was being unsporting by going down when not being injured just to waste a bit of time?
In general, I cant see how it could be illegal to let the opponents score unless there was betting involved around the time of goal/ scorer etc. It was also the choice of the Yeovil manager who has quite opening said he wont win at all costs but wants product conduct. We moan about diving, fouls and all other forms of unsporting behaviour so personally I like the fact that they done the 'right' thing not the best thing for the club. I cant comment on the actions of the Birmingham player as i have not seen this particular incident. The suggestion that this is a form of match fixing is in my mind a stupid statement and can not believe anyone would suggest it. Sorry Stretchy dont mean to sound insulting but I agree 100% with the basis of the actions taken and would hope we would do the same thing in certain circumstance.
But Yeovil (their manager) FIXED it for Birmingham to score...that is illegal. Where do we draw the line...what if a goal was given when it was blatantly off side...should teams then go and let the other team go up the other end and score? There's no difference in my eyes. Referee's referee the game NOT the players - if the ref hasn't blown or stopped the game, tough!
Just for the sake of clarity, the football league states that you can't influence the outcome of a result for financial gain or advantage. it was of no benefit for Yeovil to let Brum score so they didn't break the laws of the game and similar incidents have happened in football hundreds if not thousands of times going back over a hundred years. Having said that, it was a shambles. It should've happened immediately if at all. The Brum keeper had the ball well under control before it went out so it was unsporting and the players were daft to try to score in the first place. Having said that, I do remember five or ten years ago a directive being issued that teams should let the ref stop the game and play to the whistle. I don't really think we need to be putting the ball out - over the last twenty years the game has got a lot softer and players go down because they're a bit tired - so except for in extreme circumstances it's a practice I'd like to see end.
I do remember reading about one incident a century ago when a penalty was awarded and the goalie obviously thought a goal would've been scored so left the goal open for the forward to score, except that he didn't think it was a penalty so deliberately put it wide. what happened the other night was a relic from those days.
