Freddie Sears’ “Goal That Never Was”

There’s definitely some sort of cosmic karmic balancing force at work in the English Championship. Last season we had the infamous phantom goal, which ref Stuart Atwell awarded to Reading despite the ball not coming anywhere near crossing the line.

And this season we have “the goal that never was” (above) with Crystal Palace’s Freddie Sear’s volleying the ball into the lower left corner. It hit the stanchion and bounced out, but very very clearly crossed the line. Unless you are referee Rob Shoebridge, who consulted with assistant Chris Knowles and then ruled “no goal.”

Sear’s strike should have made it 1-0 to Crystal Palace. Instead, Bristol City went on to win 1-0.

Neil Warnock was understandably angry. And – as usual – he had plenty to say about it, including this pretty convincing argument for goalline technology.

“”We can put a man on the moon, time serves of 100 miles per hour at Wimbledon, yet we cannot place a couple of sensors in a net to show when a goal has been scored.

“I feel sorry for the referee because he didn’t get any help. But how can I mark him after the game when he spoils a match with a mistake of that importance?

“I thought Gary Johnson and his players could have shown more sportsmanship because they knew it was a goal, like everyone else. But I’m 60 years old and maybe I expect too much.

“I have a transfer embargo on me and a group of young players working their socks off for the club. They didn’t deserve that today. We were cheated. And I’m not saying that against the referee because he didn’t mean to get it wrong.”

I’m inclined to agree with Warnock here. I’ve heard all the arguments against goalline technology and video replays. And some of them are legitimate concerns. But in a situation like this one, where everyone but the referees can see that a terrible mistake has been made, the a video replay seems like the obvious solution. On the other hand, what would all us bloggers post about if there were no more incorrect decisions?

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Category: England