Controversial moments

[TheCelt67]

3 hours ago, BigFatTabbyDave said:

Seems like it was the final game of the 1977/78 season. Had Rangers lost, Aberdeen would have won the league on goal difference.

If it's as cut and dried that the pitch was invaded by Rangers fans seeking to have the game abandoned, it would seem absolutely shocking to someone outside Scotland that the match would be replayed, instead of Rangers forfeiting the game. I doubt anyone on here would be, though  

Edit: still not seeing anything about the game actually being replayed though  

 

1 hour ago, Monkey Tennis said:

Right, we need clarity on this.

It sounds absolutely scandalous, but surely it would have entered notorious folklore, had it unfolded as above.  For all the reasons for bad blood between Rangers and Aberdeen get regularly trotted out, I've never seen this cited. 

Can some old git older than me, clear this up please?  It sounds incredible.

The game wasn't actually replayed.  The players were taken off the pitch to allow the police to clear the pitch before the game restarted.  Rangers went on to win by 2 or 3 goals.  Both Motherwell and Rangers players have mentioned the affect the disturbance had on the outcome of the match. 

[Monkey Tennis]

10 minutes ago, TheCelt67 said:

 

The game wasn't actually replayed.  The players were taken off the pitch to allow the police to clear the pitch before the game restarted.  Rangers went on to win by 2 or 3 goals.  Both Motherwell and Rangers players have mentioned the affect the disturbance had on the outcome of the match. 

Right, that sounds altogether more plausible.  If it was 1978, then Rangers beat Motherwell 2-0 in the final game, meaning the bit on the last page about Motherwell being 2-0 up before the disturbance is a mistake.

Is that right?

[TheCelt67]

4 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

Right, that sounds altogether more plausible.  If it was 1978, then Rangers beat Motherwell 2-0 in the final game, meaning the bit on the last page about Motherwell being 2-0 up before the disturbance is a mistake.

Is that right?

A brief account of the events and footage of the match. 

http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/the-club/history/club-history/1975-1983/

 

[Monkey Tennis]

5 minutes ago, TheCelt67 said:

A brief account of the events and footage of the match. 

http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/the-club/history/club-history/1975-1983/

 

Right, that game was in February then when there were still about a dozen matches left.  

Obviously, like any wins, it proved ultimately vital in a close title race, but again it was nothing like as decisive as had it been the final match.

It's starting to make more sense now.

[TheCelt67]

1 minute ago, Monkey Tennis said:

Right, that game was in February then when there were still about a dozen matches left.  

Obviously, like any wins, it proved ultimately vital in a close title race, but again it was nothing like as decisive as had it been the final match.

It's starting to make more sense now.

I'd say it's pretty much a 'if your aunty had baws' situation.   Motherwell probably would have won, costing rangers the league in the long run but no-one can say for certain given what happened. 

[Dons_1988]

It wasn’t the only time it happened.

There’s footage of a game between us and them at ibrox from the 80’s when we gave them an absolute pumping. I think it’s at 2-0 they storm the pitch presumably to try and stop it. Fortunately it didn’t work and we did them 3-0.

[mathematics]

[Estragon]

ICT fans pulling Celtic players down in the box.

[Ranaldo Bairn]

"Quintessential" fat baldy goon in the crowd there. No scarf, but if you saw him in the pub, you'd just know he was one of them.

[nsr]

There is no way the PED scandal in Spanish sport didn't extend into football.

[Thistle_do_nicely]

It's not the worlds most earth-shattering decision but to this day I'm still a bit unsure over i) whether it should stand by the letter of the law and ii) whether it should be allowed on a more moral level. The assistant ref pretty clearly shoes Craigen away after Draper's touch  so as far as the assistant referee is concerned the corner hasn't been taken before Doran starts driving towards goal.

Personally I'm of a mind that the refereeing approach to things like this and, say, quickly taken free kicks should be clarified by the referee before the game to the team captains. I mean I get that the standards and laws should be consistently applied but there are different refereeing approaches to situations like this in practice (much like a lot of refs certainly seem to be loathe to issue yellow cards for any foul in the first 10 minutes of the game even if it looks like it could clearly be a foul worthy of a booking, opting instead for the "I'm going to make a public show to the fans, other players and managers that I'm giving you a stern warning" approach).  An example (and something I've always wonderered about tbh!) is what would happen if a team are defending a 1-0 lead and the captain explicitly asks the referee not to apply the advantage rule, because they would rather get the opportunity to slow the game down and regroup defensively. I'm honestly not sure how that would apply from FA to FA or if there's any flexibility for that in  the laws of the game but I can't see any reason why a ref wouldn't agree to it? The biggest potential controversy in that case is if a clear advantage would almost certainly lead to a goal and the ref still opts to pull play back but then there's not really any cause for complaint.