Soccer Blog Post

Sunderland Vs. Liverpool Balloon Ball Goal

Soccer, Sunderland

Damn, Is That Ever One Rough Way To Lose A Game

10/17/09 in Soccer | 100%InjuryRate | 1283 respect

There are certainly bad and totally unfair ways to lose a game. But this...man, oh, man. This is one rough way to lose a game.

Today in the English Premier League, Sunderland beat Liverpool 1-0, thanks to a beach ball. Seriously.

During play at Sunderland's Stadium of Light, some moronic Liverpool kid punched a beach ball out onto the field which rolled in front of the goal, just as Sunderland striker Darren Bent unloaded a shot. As you can probably guess, the soccer ball struck the beach ball and went in for a goal. Uh, shouldn't that not count?

...the referee has the option to allow play to continue if a "second ball" goes on to the field but should call a halt if it interferes with the action.

It also states he should stop the game in the case of "any kind of outside interference" but in reality matches are routinely allowed to continue with items like balloons on the pitch.

Former FIFA referee Graham Poll told the BBC the referee should have stopped the game and given a drop ball.

Whoops. I'll be honest, we give NBA refs a lot of crap, but I swear the worst officials out there are soccer refs. They're seemingly braindead half the time.

As for the goal itself, here's the video (for as long as it stays up).

Liverpool Left Deflated By Sunderland's Beach-Ball Winner [The New York Times]

leave comment

10/24/09 | shahbhavya9999

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10/21/09 | aldutoridd | 19 respect

sack rafa..

10/21/09 | MrJayesh | 1 respect

rafa should leave the club and it should not be count

10/20/09 | babukiika22

How are you Rohit_Kinn ?

10/20/09 | aldutoridd | 19 respect

bloody hell we are struggling this season to reach the top four...so inconsistent...rafa is too stubborn and has complicated methods..he will never lead us to premier league title..

10/20/09 | rohit_kinn

steven........... i luv u

10/20/09 | asumanirat | 4 respect

I think Rafa and Lukas should leave the club

10/19/09 | Samthunder12

omfg that shudda sooooo been called!

10/19/09 | Jemstone | 20 respect

What a great strike! Liverpool deserves it after all the penalty kicks the refs give them...I have no remorse!

10/19/09 | ApopCane | 214 respect

It's a drop ball, the law on this is plain.

10/18/09 | blondie45044 | 5871 respect

20 seconds of proof it should have been stopped. I am just saying the red ball is certainly not supposed to be there. Thanks for sharing.

10/18/09 | celticfc411 | 51 respect

BluDevil wrote:

Wow, this would be a big deal if Liverpool were close to getting relegated. But since that isn't the case, I say the same as the ref, play on.

Especially since a Liverpool fan threw it on the pitch. i've always hated stuff on the field, now maybe fans will realize that they really can cost their team a game

10/18/09 | BluDevil | 618 respect

Wow, this would be a big deal if Liverpool were close to getting relegated. But since that isn't the case, I say the same as the ref, play on.

10/18/09 | wizzie1967

I think Liverpool team is a favorite with dumb kids... Remember Gerrard? Anyway, seems that the new season brought the referees to a stand still... Every week end something happen with them. Have to say, a second ball on the pitch, no brainer here, gold disallowed.

10/18/09 | chrisgardiner

The shot took a deflection off a large beach ball with 'Liverpool' written on it.
Which begs the question: what was the Liverpool manager doing on the pitch anyway?