Thetownend.com

Someone has put this up on youtube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5V0wfB3Iic

HA.

That must be so deflating for Liverpool.

Can't believe that the keeper saved neither the ball nor balloon!

That little kid must be a hero.

Same thing happened in this FA Cup Match between Sheff Utd and Man City..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-4AKL_YGAw

Did that happen today?

That is brilliant.

Hahahahahaha. My Liverpool supporting mate's just got some stick for that :)

Remember the Man City one actually. Funny and just one of those things I guess.

Love it!

somehow it'll get linked to the FA being biased towards Manchester United.

I'm not sure if it's Glenn Johnson who guilded the ball the other direction.

Wasn't that chucked on by a Liverpool fan. Excellent.

Can we sign it? Could have done with that kinda presence upfront today.

Tis true. A baloon is more likely to score than Hutchinson anyway.

well they've both got one each this season!!

Reina should have cleared it off the pitch beforehand. It's a goal, they can't complain.

brilliant goal.

Yeah, but the balloon has only made it on to the pitch once whereas Hutchinson . . . .

Didn't realise that the goal shouldn't have stood. Apparently it should've been a drop ball on the edge of the area. Nevermind, Liverpool lost :)

Never heard of that rule before? Good slice of luck for Sunderland and it was quite funny

According to MOTD, it's this law...

I didn't know that either Sam. Obviously if it comes off the ref it stands but never really seen anything like that before.

Actually come to think of it when I was still playing we did once get a dog on the pitch chasing the ball along. He was quite good at dribbling. I think the ref gave a drop ball.

Talking of shit refs, my favourite ref I've ever had was absolutely useless. Newly qualified, clearly never played football, nervous and incompetent. If you shouted "penalty" enough times he'd give one regardless of where the ball was and what happened. You get the idea.

Anyway this one time he was running around and suddenly dropped to his knees  shouting a muffled 'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah'. We wondered what the fuck was wrong, and after a while he managed to tell us he was going to blow his whistle but bit his tounge instead. Honestly it was funny if you were there.

I wonder what happened to him (presumably promoted to the football league).

Yeah, but that's clearly all about people, not beach balls. So doesn't apply, surely? Wouldn't be the first time MOTD had had two or three goes at telling people what the rules are and got it wrong every time. If the outside agents rule applied to inanimate objects, then the similar Sheff Utd goal against Man City in the Cup a few years back should have been ruled out also. No mention of this law at the time which makes me think it's because it doesn't apply and MOTD are just talking shit

They had a ref on Five Live, Ellery I think, and he said it should have been a drop ball.

I reckon the ref either didn't see the beach ball, or thought it was a balloon and insignificant otherwise I reckon he would have stopped play to have it removed. But as he didn't surely the goal has to stand. Add on the fact that their keeper could have removed it and their own fan threw it on the pitch then I'd say it should stand.

This.

They might have pixellated the face of the lad who threw it on on MOTD, but he's all over YouTube. Might be an idea to get a convenient illness to keep him off school for the next week or so.

as much as i love to see this happen to liverpool the ball didnt roll onto the pitch until Sunderland were attacking down the right hand side, Reina had no time to get it off, neither did Johnson when he went to block Bents shot

Liverpool fan threw it, thus karma.

It was sat at the back of Reina's goal for several minutes before it rolled out to the edge of the six-yard box, presumably put there by Reina/one of the defenders putting it out of the way after it came on. They should learn to tidy up properly

Wilson misses out on new goalscorer

http://store.liverpoolfc.tv/products/souvenirs/giftsandmisc/beach-set/pid-28099

(out of stock :( )

Mark Hughes bought them all up as a job lot, £10m a piece

Even Carragher said it was a goal. At the end of the day it's the fan that threw it that fucked it all up for them. You'd think he'd have at least waited until the second half when Liverpool were actually shooting towards that end.

It would only not count if the referee saw it before the event and stopped play. The drop ball is merely the way of restarting play, if he hasn't stopped it then tough shit.  He can't retrospectively stop play so the refs can all stop bleating and trying to get on tv with their in depth knowledge.  I think we should actively encourage more beach balls in games, adds a little spark of randomness to a game, be a bit like It's a Knockout - I'm sure the Premier League could come up with some sort of money making idea off of that.

Its funny how its only the media that are saying it wasn't a goal, and the retired refs they've called in as experts. Benitez would be first in line moaning about it if he thought there was anything dodgy about it but he accepted it.

I've been through the rules a few times now and I can't see anything that would rule it out. As regards the rules that are being referred to that should have ruled it out, if a drop ball was the correct decision, surely this should happen every time a balloon is on the pitch?

Assuming what Samdy quoted on the second page is correct, the rules actually seem to refer to people anyway, not inanimate objects:

That's anyone, not anything. A beach ball is a thing not a person. And as Rob T says, the drop ball only comes into it as a way of restarting play.

But going back to Rob T's post, I seem to remember one of the L&P things that got knocked down by the Health and Safety mafia was bouncing beach balls around (seem to remember something about "small children having hot drinks knocked over them" as the jobsworth excuse cited at the time). I think this puts a whole new light on the whole L&P thing - not so much happy clappy effort to make 3rd division football marginally less painful than it manifestly is, as sinister consipracy to subvert the laws of the game that was several years ahead of it's time.

I bet Rob's got a white cat and a retractable bridge over a poolful of pirahnas at home.

Hmmm. I think we should combine the Daren Bent approach with Yeovil's suggestion for Millwall away (a long balloon with one round balloon) for a concerted L&P campaign. Perhaps we can get one of Paynter's headers or penalties deflected by an inflated half-scrotum.

Rafa has handled it well, no moaning/complaining, accepted it.

Imagine if it was Fergie, he'd have torn the Ref a new arsehole.

That's because Liverpool were dire and even the most bias manager couldn't defend that sort of performance.

Haha...

[url width=407 height=234]http://i37.tinypic.com/2njg5tl.gif[/url]

Apparently Man Yoo fans are taking inflatable beachballs to their game against Liverpool this weekend.

ANd planning a sing song to Nina's 99 Red Balloons

Those crazy man yoo fans.................

I don't know if I'm the only one who downloads the Times The Game Podcast with Jupitus and Marcotti, but if anyone does, am I the only one who thought Patrick Barclay's diatribe was not just misjudged but offensive? For those who don't listen to it (Probably all of you) he genuinely managed to to say throwing a beachball onto the pitch could directly lead to a repeat of Hillsborough at that the (12 year old) kid who threw it should have had the shit kicked out of him. I'm not easily offended at all and stopped listening to the podcast halfway through. Seriously, what the fuck is he thinking? Link if anyone wants to listen to it (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/thegame_podcasts/article6878433.ece)

What a twat.

You should set Stephen Fry on his ass

Quote is right, but that bit of the interpretation does only clarify which people are outside agents - implying that other outside agents are possible. I'll try and find it, but i'm pretty sure somewhere else in the Laws of the Game will clarify what an 'outside agent' is...i'd be pretty surprised if it didnt say something along the lines of

'an outside agent is deemed to be any item, not part of the field of play, that enters the field of play. Play continues until the item interferes with play and not before hand. If the item does interfere, play is restarted with a drop ball from where the ball was last in play and the item is removed. At any other time, the item is removed at the next natural stoppage.'

Can't find anything that clarify's an outside agent, but what i've said is what it should say...

But, the quote from the beeb is misleading. The second part that starts 'if an outside agent...' is a separate section to the 'which people are outside agents' and isn't a direct follow-on, which is what people are interpreting it as.

So it doesn't mean CIA or MI5 agents then? That's no fun.

Wouldnt it have been great if Reina saved the balloon

The goal had just been voted 'Goal of the week' on SSN with 69% of the vote !! ;D

I think a few Man Yoo fans voted for that !!

The quote where "outside agents" relates to players rather than an object (in this case a beach ball) is accurate, and is actually relates to the section in the laws of the game which is devoted to giving guidance to some interpretations.  The quote about an agent being a player or an official actually relates to Law 3 (number of players) and is there for quidance when a manager storms onto the pitch or a sub comes on without permission.

A more relevant interpretation relates to Law 2 (the ball) and reads:
If an extra ball enters the field of play during the match, the referee must stop the match only if it interferes with play. Play must be restarted by a dropped ball in the position where the match ball was at the time when the match was stopped, unless play was stopped inside the goal area, in which case the referee drops the ball on the goal area line parallel to the goal line at the point nearest to where the ball was located when play was stopped.

In short, a drop ball should have been given on the edge of the 18 yard box because an extra ball (beach type in this case) interfered with play inside the penalty area.

The referee probably didn't remember this because unless you are doing a match on Mannington Rec or some other "parks" level, the chances of having 2 balls on the pitch at the same time are pretty slim.  Not that that is an excuse for him - he messed up big time!

Who cares, being from the south I wanted both the northern teams to lose.

An attitude that does you credit.

Cheers, rich. That's the best and clearest explanation of the situation I've read all week - far and away better than all the pro pundits on TV/radio.

The angry bloke in the pub last week would agree.

That's the first time I've heard anyone using that rule to explain why it should have been disallowed. I don't see how this rule can apply though as it is blatantly talking about another football rather than a beach ball so it would be a stretch to apply it in this case.

Also, are you sure it would be a drop ball on the edge of the penalty area? I thought a restart is only moved if the offence happens within the goal area (6 yard box), in which case play restarts on the edge of the goal area (not the penalty area). Not sure the chances of two balls on the pitch are that slim, I'd say its pretty common due to the widespread use of multiple balls in games nowadays.

I thought the consensus was it should have been disallowed under rule 5 - the power and duties of the ref, which says "the referee....stops, suspends or abandons the match because of outside interference of any kind". I'm not convinced by this rule applying either though. Its not a rule as such, more of a guidance stating the power of the referee and was it an outside influence - Reina had control of the beach ball and put it in the back of his goal, so is it any different to a keepers bag making it on to the pitch?

I reckon FIFA could do with adding a guidance note to the rules to cover this situation in the future.

another ball=a ball suitable for match purposes.not a beach ball

on the bright side soccer am cracked me up with their sky sports news exclusive regarding the ball signing for notts county and the walking out a few hours later.