Football has witnessed its fair share of controversial referring decisions over the decades. Of all the mistakes to make though, awarding a goal when the ball has not crossed the line has to be up there among the most antagonising. In some cases, the officials deserve some slack as it can be difficult to tell if the ball has crossed the line, especially when it’s travelling at speed. Just look at Geoff Hurst’s strike in the 1966 World Cup final for the most famous example, even with the aid of a slow-motion replay it is not an easy call to make.
In other cases though, the officials end up having a complete mare and award a goal for a shot that was not even on target. We are not talking about a ball that was a few centimetres in front of the line, but one that sailed harmlessly wide/over. This is what is known as a ‘ghost’ or ‘phantom’ goal and there have been a few of them over the years.
Stefan Kiessling was the lucky recipient of one of these goals in a Bundesliga game in 2013 when his header went through a hole in the side netting. There was an even more bizarre incident five years earlier as Reading earned themselves a goal against Watford despite there not even being a suggestion the ball might have gone in following a scramble in the box. The ghost goal we want to focus on here though was the one credited to Alan Hudson during a clash between Chelsea and Ipswich during the 1970/71 First Division campaign.
The Ghost Goal: What Happened?
Chelsea were up 1-0 against the Tractor Boys when Peter Houseman cut inside from the left wing and rolled it across to Hudson just outside the box. With the pass perfectly weighted, Hudson was able to swing a right boot at it, but while his near-post effort was sweetly struck, it sailed wide and hit the rear stanchion. After smashing into the stanchion, the ball rebounded back onto the pitch well wide of the goal itself. This was clear to see for all the players on the pitch who turned away to prepare for the resulting goal-kick only to find out a goal had been awarded.
Not seeing what everyone else had clearly witnessed, referee Roy Capey believed the ball had flown into the net before hitting the rear stanchion and bouncing out. The angle the ball returned to the pitch would have made this near impossible but Capey refused to change his decision, even after consulting with the linesman closest to the goal. Unsurprisingly, Ipswich manager, Bobby Robson, furiously protested the call, as did the Ipswich players who were certain the ball had not gone in. Their protests fell on deaf ears though with Hudson awarded the goal and Chelsea able to double their lead in a game that finished 2-1 to the hosts.
Hudson’s Reaction
Like everyone else on the pitch, bar the referee, Hudson knew his strike had not gone in but decided to keep quiet about it. Although most players would have done the same in Hudson’s position, teammate and gamesmanship advocate, David Webb, requested that the midfielder tell the ref it wasn’t a goal. Had Hudson done so, you have to imagine Capey would have reversed his wrong decision.
Hudson kept his mouth shut though, for two reasons. For one, Chelsea players had a points bonus in their contract so coming clean would have potentially seen them financially worse off. Even adjusted for inflation the amount was not huge but top-flight footballers in 1970 were not on the astronomical wages they are now. The other reason was Hudson still felt aggrieved from having two disallowed goals from the previous season.
In his view, Hudson had seen perfectly legitimate goals chalked off against Manchester United, both home and away. Although Chelsea won both contests, making the alleged errors without consequence, Hudson still felt a little aggrieved, perhaps partly because he did not celebrate too many goals in his career (just 25 in 492 appearances). So, when the opportunity came to even his fortune up a little, he did not think twice and seized the moment by keeping quiet.
A Bad Day for the Referee
Whatever the referee does at your team’s game this weekend it won’t be worse than this. Alan Hudson ‘scores’ for Chelsea v Ipswich in 1970 #cfc pic.twitter.com/hz1NxsHwwh
— @forgottengoals (@forgottengoals) December 14, 2018
In Hudson’s view, something shared by many others, the decision by Capey was an “incredible mistake” but he had a degree of sympathy for the officials back then as they were amateurs. Even so, Capey had a horror show even by technology-less amateur standards. Following a difficult first half, with several wrong but not game-changing calls, things went from bad to worse for the referee.
His first-half shortcomings were quickly overshadowed by the inexplicable decision to award Hudson with a non-existent goal shortly after the restart. You have to think that the reaction of the players alone must have caused a huge element of doubt in Capey’s mind but he nevertheless stuck to his guns. Perhaps rattled by this mistake and the furious backlash of the Ipswich playing and coaching staff, the man in black continued to have a horror show of a match.
His next major error went in Ipswich’s favour as he allowed Jimmy Robertson’s indirect free-kick to stand despite nobody else touching the ball. It was another ‘clear and obvious’ mistake, to use the famous phrase, but at least his errors had evened out so there was some comfort to take from this. To round off a bad day, in the final few seconds of the game Chelsea looked destined to make it 3-1 as Ian Hutchinson ran clean through and rounded the Ipswich keeper.
As Hutchinson rolled the ball into an empty net though, Capey blew the whistle for full-time as the exact amount of stoppage time had passed. Football rules back then did not require referees to blow at the exact moment time was up, so Capey was just being needlessly difficult. His bizarre call even caused some confusion within the ground, with spectators unsure if the final ‘goal’ stood (it didn’t). Despite this awful refereeing performance, which arguably included one of the worst mistakes in English football history, Roy Capey, who made his First Division debut in 1967, refereed at top-flight level for several years after this game to forget.