ON THIS DAY

When fans of Turkish side Fenerbahçe invaded the pitch in a pre-season friendly against Ukraine's Shaktar Donetsk the Istanbul club expected to be playing behind closed doors for a while as a punishment. Instead the Turkish FA ordered that a match be played with no males over the age of 12 being allowed entry. So on 20th September 2011 a crowd of 41,000 women and children were present for Fenerbahçe's League match with Manisaspor. Players from both clubs flew flowers to the fans before the match - you just can't see that happening at Millwall could you - and no crowds problems followed in the 1-1 draw.

Well, before the days of VAR ghost goals or phantom goals were a feature of football that caused many a discussion and argument as to whether a goal should have or shouldn't have been awarded. But if you attended the League match between Watford and Reading on 20th September 2008 there was just general amazement about the awarding of a 'goal'.. In the 13th minute of the Championship fixture Watford defender John Eustace put the ball out of play for a corner when being challenged by Reading striker Noel Hunt. But despite the ball having gone out of play yards outside the goalpost and to the astonishment of everyone in the 14,761 Vicarage Road crowd linesman Nigel Bannister flagged it as a goal. Watford protested – their manager Aidy Boothroyd was sent to the stands for protesting too much - but rookie 25-year-old referee Stuart Attwell upheld the decision and a goal for Reading it was. The match ended 2-2 with that ‘goal’ going down as a John Eustace own goal. After the match there was much talk of whether Reading should have allowed Watford an unopposed equaliser. There were also suggestions that the match should have been replayed. But the rule is that the refs decision is final and so a goal it was and a goal it stayed!