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Matt Ritchie and Jamaal Lascelles argue with hapless referee Keith Stroud.
Matt Ritchie and Jamaal Lascelles argue with hapless referee Keith Stroud. Photograph: Ian Horrocks/Getty Images
Matt Ritchie and Jamaal Lascelles argue with hapless referee Keith Stroud. Photograph: Ian Horrocks/Getty Images

Who took (and took) the most retaken penalty of all time?

This article is more than 6 years old

Plus: the longest reigning club presidents; the earliest World Cup qualifiers; and how Charlton got their nickname. Send your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU

John Spooner has both a long memory and a question: “The penalty/encroachment controversy at Newcastle took me back to my time as a penniless student oaf in Manchester, when one evening I took time off my studies to watch a match at Maine Road. The most memorable incident of the game was a penalty which had to be retaken twice (so taken three times) because of encroachment. The penalty taker was Dennis Tueart (who actually scored another penalty later that game in a 2-0 win over Norwich) and the referee was the unforgettable Mr Roger Kirkpatrick of Leicester, who The Times described afterwards as having a ‘chubby frame and glistening pate who finds publicity as readily as Elizabeth Taylor or Vanessa Redgrave’. Is there a record for retaken penalties?”

Torbjørn O Karlsen was quick to get in touch. “On the issue of retaken penalties, 18-year-old Andreas Løvland, then of Norwegian club Lyngen/Karnes, got to take a penalty four times in a fourth division match against Bossekop in 2011,” he writes. “Løvland missed three times, but got another chance each time as the ref meant the Bossekop keeper Vlada Filipovic moved too early. Løvland finally managed to score and Lyngen/Karnes won the game 2-1. Bossekop and especially their keeper were enraged by the the ref’s interpretation of the rules, and even the Lyngen/Karnes players admitted that the whole thing were embarrassing. The ref Jim Roger Haugnes also denied Lyngen/Karnes the chance to switch penalty taker, claiming afterwards that he didn’t want to cause extra fuss … You can read more here, in Norwegian.”

“Not the most re-taken penalty of all-time – but this reminded me Danny Higginbotham (eventually) scoring for Stoke against Spurs in 2008 after what seemed like an age trying to get the ball to stay on the penalty spot,” writes Jacob Cotterill. “The then-Britannia Stadium is renowned for howling winds, and the hilltop stadium lived up to its reputation on this particular occasion as Higginbotham had to re-spot the wind-lashed ball three times - scoring at the fourth time of asking. To top off the penalty-related madness, Ricardo Fuller stepped up to take Stoke’s second penalty of the match at the death. After he managed to hit the inside of both posts the ball rebounded to Rory Delap, who then smashed the ball against the bar. Fortunately Stoke managed to hang on to win 2-1 (finding time to hit the bar again seconds later). I feel a question of my own coming on - what’s the record for most shots against the woodwork in a match?”

However, the classic of this genre came in the 2004 Olympics group-stage game, involving Serbia and Montenegro v Tunisia. With the match finely poised at 1-1 as it drifted into the 83rd minute, Tunisia were awarded a penalty by Tahitian official Charles Ariiotima. Mohamed Jedidi stepped up … and would step up a grand total of six times due to repeated encroachment from both teams, on different occasions. Jedidi scored the first three, watched the next two saved, before converting the sixth … which stood. Tunisia were pegged back to 2-2 before Ali Zitouni grabbed a last-gasp winner. Alas, neither team advanced to the last eight. You can watch the glorious farce unfold here.

Longest reigns of club presidents

“I was reading that Milan’s sale to Chinese owners will mark the end of Silvio Berlusconi’s reign as club president,” writes Ursolin Waxoh. “I was wondering whether Mr Berlusconi is Europe’s longest-serving club president. Surely not? No other examples come to mind though. Can you help?”

Berlusconi took over as Milan’s president in 1986, which makes his run 31 years. Jo Ashdown (no relation to one-time Knowledge author John Ashdown but every bit as clued-up) offers up a couple of presidents/chairmen who can beat Silvio in the longevity stakes. I’m sure there must be some owners who were in charge of their clubs for their whole life but if the question is strictly about chairmen/presidents, then I think I have an answer,” writes Jo. “The chairman of Portuguese titans FC Porto, Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, has been in office for almost 35 years. That tweet mentions that Pinto da Costa has led the club for 12,684 days and counting (12,780 as of 19 April). And yet that only makes him the longest-serving living chairman. By my reckoning, the overall record holder is probably Ilhan Cavcav, of Turkey’s Gençlerbirligi. He led the club from 1978 to his recent death in January, almost 40 years. Mr Berlusconi is out of the running, but maybe Mr Pinto da Costa can still catch him up.”

If we were to dip into the English amateur leagues, Peacehaven & Telscombe’s former chairman Jim Edwards would give Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa a little further to go to be considered Europe’s longest-serving living chairman. Edwards retired in 2014 after 36 years at the helm. He oversaw the club’s rise from Sussex league anonymity to promotion into the Isthmian League Division One South (the eighth tier of the English football pyramid) and since he left they’ve been relegated. Any more suggestions, amateur or professional, then do get in touch.

Brazil getting in early

“Brazil have qualified for the World Cup, well over 14 months before the tournament begins,” notes James Turley. “Is this be the earliest a team has ever qualified for a major international tournament (obviously not including automatic qualification by being hosts or previous winners)?”

Here’s Ron Cruz: “From the time Brazil defeated Paraguay (23 March 2017) to when the World Cup begins (14 June 2018) 444 days will have elapsed, he begins. “However, on 22 March 1981 Brazil defeated Bolivia 3-1 to officially qualify for the finals in Spain, which kicked off on 13 June 1982; time span = 449 days. But I’m not sure if this is the record for a ‘major international tournament’.”

Knowledge archive

Where on earth does Charlton Athletic’s ‘Addicks’ nickname come from?” asked James Fromer in 2009, posing the kind of question requiring little more than a quick trip to the club’s official website (bolstered by the Knowledge’s unofficial website).

The majority of Charlton historians agree the most likely explanation dates back to a fish and chip shop in 1908 and that ‘Addicks’ derived from ‘haddock’. At that time, Arthur Bryan was a local fishmonger who helped underwrite the cost of establishing Charlton at The Valley, and the club and its opposition used to dine on [his] fish suppers following matches. The story goes that if the team lost they would dine on the less popular cod, but a victory would secure a haddock supper.

It appears the club were even called “The Haddocks”, as first depicted in a Kentish Independent newspaper cartoon from October 1908, before becoming “The Addicks” by 1910 (although “The Haddicks” was also used), while a potentially fishy legend has it that the club’s 1909 Woolwich Cup win against Army Service Corps prompted Bryan to parade a host of hefty haddocks around the Creed’s Farm ground on poles.

Can you help?

“What’s the record for one team having most shots against the woodwork in a match?” asks Jacob Cotterill.

“The fastest goals in football are well known, but has a team ever equalised in the first minute?” wonders James W. “What about the quickest times to reach other scorelines … 2-2, 3-3, etc?”

“Which non-league teams have made it into European football competition?” asks Chris Devonshire-Ellis. “I’m sure there are some local heroes out there.”

“Do any clubs have a stand named in honour of a person who isn’t an ex-player, manager or owner?” muses Andy Palmer.

“Which club has had most players over 20 goals in a season?” tweets Kai Helge Aalhus.

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