“Has a professional game ever involved a player and official who were related?” asks Chris Ross. “Or, indeed, has a ref been forced to step down because of a family member participating?”
There has been a fairly recent example of this in Scotland. Steven McLean has refereed his brother, the former Northern Ireland international Brian, in reserve and youth games. “He knows he doesn’t get any favours,” said Steven in this interview. He had a punishment tool far greater than yellow or red cards. “I once booked him and told him if he committed the same offence again I’d tell mum.”
The chat between Stuart Pearce and his brother Ray was a little more Anglo-Saxon. Ray – not to be confused with Dennis Pearce, who was in the news for his political interests a few years ago – was a linesman who officiated when Stuart’s Nottingham Forest played away at Brighton in the 1986-87 Littlewoods Cup. Thanks to Andrew Rockall for sending details of the game and this confirmation.
It seems that nobody at Brighton knew about it, and it was not mentioned in the Guardian or Times match reports, or by the ITV commentator Brian Moore on Midweek Sports Special. All the talk was of Forest’s blistering start to the season: they were top of the table, having beaten Aston Villa 6-0 and Chelsea 6-2 in their last two games, and had an emerging team with five players aged 20 or under. The match ended 0-0.
Sadly the linesmen were positioned close to the right-backs rather than the left-backs, so there was no scope for the comedic fantasy of Pearce hoofing the right-winger into orbit as his brother demonstratively waved played on. Pearce reckons his brother disallowed a Brighton goal, though that may be artistic licence: it was not on the highlights or in the paper reports. That said, one Brighton fan has a vivid memory of the incident.
“I had no fears about his honesty,” said Pearce in his autobiography. “He would err on the side of Brighton rather than favour me. No one knew, apart from the Forest team. It was funny running up the wing and having my brother alongside me on the touchline. He could have booked me because I kept taking the mickey out of him – ‘Oi, you ginger dickhead,’ is one thing I remember calling him. Perhaps it is a good thing that he never became a League referee because it would have come out eventually that he was my brother.”
Do you know of any other related referees? If so, mail knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU.
Spreading a bit thin
“Players are banned for disciplinary issues on the pitch and more than a few have found themselves without a driving licence for various reasons,” mails Vince Ely. “What are the most unusual things that players have been banned from doing away from football?”
We covered this a few years ago – and there are some gems in this link – but it’s well worth this update from Alex Harman. “As anyone (barring, perhaps, those with a life-threatening hazelnut allergy) who has tasted it in any capacity can attest, Nutella is one of the most moreish foods out there,” says Alex. “Few know this better than Werder Bremen forward Max Kruse. During a spell at Wolfsburg in the 2015-16 season, Kruse was summoned by manager Dieter Hecker and sporting director Klaus Allofs to be told, in no uncertain terms, that his consistent consumption of the indulgent spread was no longer going to be tolerated. It compounded a pretty miserable week for Kruse, who had already been fined £20,000 for disparaging the club’s reputation by leaving £60,000 worth of poker winnings in the back of a taxi.”
Flying starts
“After just 12 matches, Irish league leaders Cork City built up a gap of 14 points between themselves and second placed Bray Wanderers, having won all 12 of their games,” notes Kenneth O’Meara. “Surely a record so early in the season?”
It’s not a new record, but it may equal one. “Reading matched this in 1985-86 – they were 14 points clear after also winning their first 12 games,” writes Steve James. “They were 16 points clear after winning their 13th game as well.”
Everywhere we go …
“What is the origin of the song that goes: ‘Everywhere we go, Everywhere we go, We’re the [club name] boys, making all the noise, everywhere we go …’?” asks James Mason. “This has been driving me mad. If you can’t help then I’m going to have to release a single which has the same tune and wait to see who sues.”
Pete Franklin has buzzed in faster than Monkman for this one. “The melody for this song is derived from a pop song aimed – I believe – at children, called ‘Pop Goes the World’ by the aptly-named Men Without Hats, who hail from Montreal. They enjoyed a brief run of singles during a dark period in the 80s. Their biggest hit was The Safety Dance, which is also the term for a relegation dogfight in Canada.”
Knowledge archive
“You said that Liverpool were the first British club to have a shirt sponsor (Hitachi in 1979), but while Liverpool are doubtless the first professional club to be sponsored, I’m pretty sure Kettering beat them to it by a few years. This is not a wind-up. Maybe you can confirm it?” asked Jon Cudby back in 2000.
Having spoken to Kettering club historian Mel Hopkins, Jon, we can indeed. When Wolves striker Derek Dougan retired from football in the summer of 1975, he joined Southern League club Kettering Town as chief executive. Within a month of his appointment, he had brokered a “four-figure” deal with local firm Kettering Tyres, and in a game against Bath City on 24 January 1976, Kettering became the first British club to run out with a company’s name emblazoned on their shirts.
Sadly, the groundbreaking new strip would not get another run-out. Four days later, the FA predictably ordered the club to remove the new slogan, despite Dougan’s claim that the ruling body’s 1972 ban on sponsorship had not been put down in writing.
Characteristically, Dougan didn’t take this body blow lying down. He cheekily changed the wording on the shirts to Kettering T, which he claimed stood for Town and had nothing whatsoever to do with Tyres. For a couple of heady months, the team played on under the new slogan.
Sure enough, however, Kettering were soon up before the FA, who ordered them to “remove the words Kettering T from their strip”. The threat of a £1,000 fine was too much for such a small club, and the words were reluctantly removed.
There would be one final irony. Kettering didn’t let the matter lie – after all, clubs like Bayern Munich had been coining it in on the continent for years – and so, with Derby and Bolton, they put forward a proposal to the FA regarding shirt sponsorship. But although the proposal was accepted on 3 June 1977, Kettering could not find a sponsor for the upcoming season. Meanwhile, Derby players began that season running around in Saab shirts and Saab cars. Where’s the justice?
Can you help?
“Dirk Kuyt announced his retirement this week, meaning he scored a hat-trick in his last professional game. I know Oliver Bierhoff did this with Chievo in 2003, but have there been any other examples?” asks Sam Carney.
“Chelsea finished the season with 93 points, 43 more than in 2015-16. That’s an even bigger swing than Leicester, who gained 40 extra points in their title-winning season. Has there ever been a bigger improvement in the top division in any country?” wonders James Bolle.
“Peterborough United finished the League One season with 62 GF, 62 GA, and 62 points,” points out Nick Bush. “Has any other team in English football (or anywhere else even) finished with the same GF, GA, and points total?”
- Send your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU.