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Zak Rudden's 'Hand of God'...
- Thread starter Mark58
- Start date
Balham_Green":2kfyq6nz said:
Absolutely. Many of our fans were incensed when that happened in the Scunthorpe game yet, to my way of thinking, that was less of a "cheat" than what Rudden did. If I was Ryan Lowe I would have insisted that our players stood aside and allowed Orient to equalise a la Yeovil a few years back. Blatant cheating or bad sportsmanship by our players should never be condoned.
Enjoyed :thumbup:Mark58":1fxp8dvx said:Being on the 'Spion Kop’ and not having had a clear view of the build up to Argyle’s first goal last night I did have a little chuckle when I saw footage of the Zak Rudden ‘Hand of God’ incident this morning. At this point I must stress that I am normally in the extremely old fashioned camp of preferring Argyle to win (and, if necessary, lose) by fair means rather than foul. I would no more wish to benefit from a ‘cheated’ goal than I would have to swallow a defeat in similar circumstances. In that regard I suppose I am unlike the majority of Scunthorpe fans who went ballistic with joy when their cheating scumbag of a forward chipped a crippled Matt Macey in the final game of last season.
The first ‘goal’ against Orient last night, however, did bring back specific memories of a cold and miserable pre-Xmas Saturday afternoon in 1983. I was living near Watford at the time and, ever eager to see Argyle when they were anywhere in the south east, I made the tortuous car, train and tube journey to Brisbane Road for a third-tier match against Orient (they had dropped the ‘Leyton’ then, before its more recent reinstatement). The Argyle team on the day contained a wealth of legendary club nicknames - ‘Crudgie' in goal, ‘Nissie' at left back, ‘Uzzie' at right back and ‘Hodgie' in midfield. They even had ‘Stannie' (Gordon Staniforth) up front. Sadly, Sir Tommy Tynan was out for that match and Tony Kellow (‘Kelly’?) took his place up front. Although most of the team were destined to run out at Villa Park in the F.A Cup semi-final just over a year on they could hardly have been described as ‘pulling up trees’ as far as the league was concerned.
Ploughing my way across London, avoiding the hordes of Xmas shoppers, I had no illusions about the fare that was to be dished up but, as we all know, that is what being an Argyle supporter is all about. I moaned inwardly about the impossible hold ups and travel delays, not finding out until I had got home after the match that it was due to an I.R.A bomb that had gone off in Harrods that very afternoon (the death toll put the annoyance of what was soon to be another Argyle defeat in context…)
Anyway, I arrived at the ground just after kick off (I hadn’t missed anything special) and due to the crowd of 2,684 (thanks, Greens On Screen) I was able to sit virtually anywhere. In those days it was distinctly inadvisable to attend a football match in deepest East London sporting away colours or chanting ‘Westcountry, la la la, Westcountry, la la la!’ As I enjoyed my teeth being in the position they were I was in the habit of quietly sitting amongst the home fans and gradually revealing my alliegance if I was satisfied that the guys sitting around me were football fans rather than neanderthals. Thus,I took up a position a few rows from the pitch, directly in line with the goal that Argyle were defending.
The Argyle defence were taking a bit of a battering and it was a ‘backs to the wall’ first quarter of an hour. We were holding our own, however, when a long ball was played along the ground into the channel directly in front of where I was sitting. The race was on between Nissie and the Orient winger but as the ball got nearer to the dead ball line and the corner flag it became apparent to me, those around me and - most importantly - Nissie that it was going to go out of play for a goal kick. It was clear that he had turned off the afterburners and visibly slowed as the fast-travelling ball approached the line. The Orient winger was clearly of a different mindset, however, and in chasing the clearest mother-of-all-lost-causes he continued to race after the ball at breakneck speed. I found this admirable but totally ridiculous as he stood no chance of getting to the ball before it went out of play. And, indeed, he did stand no chance of getting to the ball before it went out of play. The ball crossed the line and continued for a further 2-3 feet (yes, as far as that!) towards the advertising hoardings before the Orient winger stretched out a right leg at full speed and launched the ball towards the Argyle goal. Watching in wide-mouthed horror, I followed the flight of the ball as it arced towards an Orient forward who smashed it into the Argyle net.
The referee signalled a goal and ran back to the centre circle. The linesman on the line nearest to me followed suit. More importantly, the lineman on the other side, whose job it was to ensure that it should have been a goal kick rather than a goal was also trotting merrily back towards the middle. The dozens of Orient fans around me were up on their feet cheering and celebrating whilst I was pointing out to them that the ball was WAY out of play before it was crossed. ‘Was it?’ one of them replied with a broad smile on his face. Crestfallen, all I could do was say ‘Yes!’. “Ah, but WAS it?’ replied my opposite number, with a huge grin, accompanied by a Cockney wink.
Argyle went on to lose that match 3-2 but despite seeing my team score two away goals (a rare sight in those days) all I could remember of the match (and still do) was a burning sense of injustice at such an obvious and glaring example of incompetence on the part of the officials.
For me, one of the most irritating of football cliches involves bad decisions balancing themselves out over the length of a season. Without any actual scientific proof of this theory I have never given it much credence. After Zak Rudden’s clear infringement in the build up to Argyle’s opener against Orient last night, however, perhaps there is something to this ‘balancing out’ theory. Admittedly it hasn’t been over the length of a season but I’m happy to finally redress an Orient injustice after some 26 seasons.
oldage":1q3sxnd7 said:
Agreed. A few weeks ago we had a goal disallowed for no apparent reason. Like you said, this time it worked in our favour.
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It was a clear handball but you're taught to play to the whistle from an early age. The ref didn't make the decision to award a free kick. Their defence was already struggling to clear it and were very poor throughout. There's always going to be dodgy refereeing decisions and we just need to live with the fact that one went our way. Let's move on and hope we don't get a decision against us like that this Saturday.
Anyone remember the play off semis when one of the Wycombe players hand balled it 5 yards from the ref and they scored from that?
Whilst I'm not a fan of how it played out it's just the luck of the draw when it comes to these lower league refs.
Sometimes they get it right and sometimes they get it badly wrong, this time it benefitted us.
Someone said to me the other week (ex ref who supports Argyle) "remember there are 22 cheats on the pitch"
Whilst I'm not a fan of how it played out it's just the luck of the draw when it comes to these lower league refs.
Sometimes they get it right and sometimes they get it badly wrong, this time it benefitted us.
Someone said to me the other week (ex ref who supports Argyle) "remember there are 22 cheats on the pitch"
The real concern about the incident should be the mal-coordinated way Rudden flailed at a chance that any pub league footballer would put away (with their head) without thinking. He had an open goal from barely a metre out. It was shockingly poor, and 99 times out of 100 a) the referee would have given the handball and b) Argyle would have had a far harder time scoring 3 additional goals.
Harsh to be critical after a 4-0 win but he doesn't look convincing to me (so far)
Harsh to be critical after a 4-0 win but he doesn't look convincing to me (so far)
oldage":13tykkwt said:
This is exactly what Maradona was criticised for not doing in 1986 by the entire England camp.
Brixton 'ill Pilgrim":1pwkqflg said:
Agree with that but at least he runs the channels and gives us some energy.
For some reason, I remember Roger Matthews (pretty certain it was him) getting particularly vexed back in the day about an equalising goal Nicky Banger scored against Oxford, having almost caught the ball on the half way line with his hands before running through and scoring.
Rudden was lucky not to get sent off. He should have got a bollocking from Lowe for doing that.
Argyle may have scored as a result of his cheating, but it could have backfired badly. Amazing how the referee missed that- it was about as blatant as a handball could be. No wonder the Orient fans were fuming !
Argyle may have scored as a result of his cheating, but it could have backfired badly. Amazing how the referee missed that- it was about as blatant as a handball could be. No wonder the Orient fans were fuming !
I think this whole thing has been massively blown out of proportion.
We won 4 0, not 1 0. I’m 99% sure that had the goal been disallowed, we’d have gone on to win. And even if it did have a big effect, the fault is with Orient for letting it throw them off so much.
Was it handball? Yes. Do I feel any embarrassment or annoyance at Rudden? No. He mistimed his jump and just tried to get a connection. Nobody at all would be talking about it had the referee simply disallowed it, the blame lies with the ref, so the anger at Rudden is illogical. Players handball/foul in every game.
What’s also interesting is that some of the people who seem so triggered are the same people who have been moaning about our pretty football and want us to do all we can to win, but then when we get a goal by controversial means, they’re up in arms. Career moaners.
Move on, we won, deservedly.
We won 4 0, not 1 0. I’m 99% sure that had the goal been disallowed, we’d have gone on to win. And even if it did have a big effect, the fault is with Orient for letting it throw them off so much.
Was it handball? Yes. Do I feel any embarrassment or annoyance at Rudden? No. He mistimed his jump and just tried to get a connection. Nobody at all would be talking about it had the referee simply disallowed it, the blame lies with the ref, so the anger at Rudden is illogical. Players handball/foul in every game.
What’s also interesting is that some of the people who seem so triggered are the same people who have been moaning about our pretty football and want us to do all we can to win, but then when we get a goal by controversial means, they’re up in arms. Career moaners.
Move on, we won, deservedly.
