'Beach Ball Goal' Shouldn't Have Stood

as seen on Sports Pundit

The referee who awarded Darren Bent’s ‘beach ball goal’ in Sunderland’s 1-0 win over Liverpool on the weekend will be dropped from the EPL, with it clear the strike shouldn’t have counted.

Bent’s fifth minute strike at the Stadium of Light incredibly deflected off a beach ball thrown on the field by a Liverpool fan, before the shot confused Reds keeper Pepe Reina and rolled over the line for the game’s only goal.

At the time, the matchday referee Mike Jones was approached by several angry Liverpool players who claimed the goal shouldn’t have stood, yet the ref decided to award Sunderland the goal.

After the game, even Sunderland boss Steve Bruce couldn’t believe his luck with the goal.

And in the wake of the incident Jones was attacked by several former referees who acknowledged it was a glaring error.

Jeff Winter, whose final game as a referee was the 2004 FA Cup final between Manchester United and Millwall, said, “I'm absolutely amazed. It is a basic law in football and the goal should just not have stood.

"I am absolutely amazed that a referee at that level of football, between him, his assistant and the fourth official didn't see what had happened and give the correct decision."

And former Premier League referee Dermott Gallagher chipped in by saying, “It was such a glaring error. Everybody knows that when something encroaches on to the pitch the game stops.

“It’s an error that no one can fathom because it goes down to grass-roots level in the laws of the game. For it to happen in a high-profile game at this level is unbelievable. Any one of the four (officials) could have stepped in.”

Indeed, in FIFA’s Laws of the Game it is written that ‘the referee stops, suspends or abandons the match because of outside interference of any kind’ and that a drop-ball should result from any such incident.

But Jones and his fellow matchday officials failed to do so on Saturday, and the senior man has copped a demotion by the English FA which means he’ll be in charge of a second tier Championship game for the upcoming weekend.

For Liverpool, though, there’s no demotion or suspensions, but instead a missed opportunity and another loss as they slide down to eighth and seemingly out of title contention already.