Have any footballers ever refused to come out for the second half?

Mark Viduka will lead the Celtic attack in the first half of the game against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.Photo: NHS Group

“Has there been any situation where a player has refused to come out for the second half?” asks Peter Clarke. “If so, what compensation did the club or the country accept?”

There are plenty of examples of entire teams refusing to play in the second half, the majority in response to racism, but very rarely does an individual player do so. Let’s kick off a famous night in Glasgow:

“Back in February 2000, as John Barnes’ Celtic were trailing Caley Thistle 2-1 in the Scottish Cup final, the striker struck Mark Viduka refused to play the second half,” begins Stephen Toal. “Viduka joked when Barnes assistant Eric Black asked him: ‘Is it too cold tonight? Don’t you like it?’

“Celtic went on to lose 3-1, and within 48 hours Barnes and Black were sacked (Viduka kept his job). More significantly, perhaps, the game was the biggest newspaper headline of all time: Super Caley Go Ballistic Celtic are atrocious. You can read about it here.”

In March 2008, the defender of the Ivory Coast Abdoulaye Méite The goal was narrow at half-time when Bolton lost 2-0 to Manchester United. Manager Gary Megson later said that Méïté had downsized tools, although he denied this. “I will not refuse to play without justification,” he said. “Every player wants to play at Old Trafford, but I was struggling in the first half and I really felt like I would be more of a hindrance if I continued. “I told the manager this, but he obviously didn’t believe me.”

Méïté was sent to train with the reserves. He was back in the first-team squad by the end of the season, having made peace with Megson, but never played for the club again and joined West Brom in the summer.

Another Bolton alumnus, Nicolas Anelkahe retired at half-time during France’s win over Mexico at the 2010 World Cup. He didn’t actually refuse to play, but his reported debriefing with manager Raymond Domenech wasn’t exactly an equivalence study. – “fuck yourself, son of a bitch”.

“When Domenech told him to change, he is said to have responded with ‘Yeah, that’s fine’,” writes Tom Reed. “Anelka sent home and suspended for 18 matches by the French FA. France knocked out at the group stage.”

The story continues

Short gaps between teams that have never met

“Starting with the 20 clubs in the Premier League we need to go how deep into the football pyramid go to find two teams that have never played against each other? “Does any of the other major European leagues have a smaller gap between two teams that have never met?” Chittaranjan’s tweets.

“None of the three teams in the Premier League title race – Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City – have played against Stevenage, who are currently sixth in League One,” writes Jack Hayward. “As far as I can tell, the shortest gap within England’s top four divisions between teams who have never faced a competitive senior game is the five-place gulf – more like a ditch – between Fleetwood Town (22nd in League One. ) and Wrexham (third in League Two). I’m excited to see what other readers around the globe think, though.”

Big equal scorelines in both legs

“In the Women’s Nations League last month, there were two matches where both teams finished with the same score (Belgium 5-1 Hungary, Sweden 5-0 Bosnia),” Notes by Jon Taylor. “What is the highest score to be repeated over two legs in the same match?”

We really need to start paying Dirk Maas. “I looked at international and continental club competitions and international and continental competitions, both men’s and women’s, at professional and youth level and this was the result,” he said without guilt trips. “In men’s soccer, the answer is an aggregate score of 16-2. In the first round of the 1979-80 European Cup, Ajax beat HJK Helsinki in the away leg 8-1 and again on the scoresheet in the home game.

“If you look at women’s football, the answer is an aggregate score of 18-0. Codru Chisinau reached the group stage of the first edition of the UEFA Women’s Cup (now the Women’s Champions League) in 2001–02 by beating Ilirija 9–0 in both legs of the qualifying round. This was equal to Arsenal when they played PAOK in the round of 32 of the 2009-10.

“There are always bigger fish: in February 2024, Morocco thrashed Niger by an aggregate score of 22-0 in the second round of the 2024 Africa U-17 Women’s World Cup qualification. Therefore, the highest score to repeat over two goals is 11-0.”

Information archive

“Jerusalem midfielder Yarden Shua has played 27 league games this season, while Beitar has only played 26 games,” explained Simon Burnton in 2021. “He played two games for Maccabi Haifa before the Israeli league shut down in September, but when he moved to the capital he only played once for Beitar. Has anyone played more games in a previous league season than their team?”

“Alan Mullery he made 34 appearances for Fulham in 1963-64 before moving to Tottenham, where he made a further nine appearances,” recalled Mark Kluth. “That gave him a total of 43 in a 42 game season.”

Staggered or delayed fixtures were added more often back in the day, increasing the chance for players to give more than 100%. “In 1970-71 Bryan ‘Pop’ Robson he played 29 games in the First Division for Newcastle,” revealed Andy Kelly. “Then he joined West Ham midway through the season and played 14 games for them, that’s 43 games in a 42 game season. Then, in 1974-75, Dick Habbin one (or maybe five) went better. He played 27 games in the Fourth Division for Reading, and then a further 21 games for Rotherham, giving him 48 games in a 46 game season.” Happily for him, Rotherham were promoted and Reading lost (again).

That’s great, but Richard Hudson could do better. “Terry Austin he played 49 league games in 1978-79: 33 for Walsall and 16 for Mansfield,” wrote Richard. “This was a record as late as the 1990s for single-season league appearances. It might still be.”

And finally, one of the smoke rings of the mind of Knowledge: Henrik Larsson he joined Manchester United on loan from Helsingborgs on 1 January 2007 and made seven league appearances, before returning to his parent club to play a further 22 matches, giving him a total of 29 appearances compared to Helsingborgs’ 26, although it over different layers.

Can you help?

“Goalkeeper No. 1 was born. 1 England, Mary Earps and Jordan Pickford, same day a year apart. Are there any other examples of shared birthdays? A dead hit duo? A solid centre-back pairing? management arch rivals?” wonders Tim Spargo.

“Andoni Iraola has won at Old Trafford as a visiting player and as a manager. Is he the first man to achieve this?” asks James Brett.

“Six former Chelsea players scored in the Europa League last Thursday. Has more than one club’s ‘alumni’ goals been achieved in one day of European classes?” asked Andrew Boulton.

“In the last two shootouts she’s been involved in for the USWNT, keeper Alyssa Naeher has stepped up to take a penalty before the keeper’s expected 11th. She was sixth in the World Cup and third in the Concacaf Gold Cup,” notes Harriet Osborn. “Are other managers in the habit of taking penalties before eligible players outside? And who did it first?”

“I note that the 17th-placed team (Plymouth) and the 23rd-placed team (Sheffield Wednesday) are separated by two points in the Championship,” notes Crispin Leyser. “Theoretically, seven teams could go into the final round of games with the threat of relegation hanging over them. Is that a record?”

“On Saturday, Raith Rovers beat Dunfermline 2-0. It was Rovers’ 27th league game of the season, and the first that was not decided by a single goal or ended in a tie. Taking into account the last four games of last season – two draws and two one-goal wins – it ends a streak of final results that stretches back 30 league games to 11 April 2023. The obvious question to ask is … is this a record?” asks Jim Clark.

“Notts County have conceded 68 goals in League Two at the moment but still have a positive goal difference. Obviously there are some games to go, but is a team with a positive goal difference still conceding the highest number of goals?” the wonders of Stephen Garbett.

“Which English top flight season had the highest number of 1st v 2nd clashes?” wonders Albert in Vienna.

“Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, the former president of Turkmenistan, founded FK Arkadag on 1 April 2023. On 24 December that year, having already been crowned champions of the country’s top flight Yokary Liga, they beat Ahal 3- 0 in the Turkmenistan Cup. final. Has any team won all the possible domestic trophies earlier while there?” asks Jack Hayward.

“In Norwich’s 5-0 win against Rotherham, all four scorers (Sara x2, Sorensen, Sainz, Sargent) and all three assist players (Stacey x3, Sara, Sorensen) had surnames beginning with the letter S. On Has anyone seen such a satisfying score sheet?” said Sean Haines, should he have changed his last name before submitting this question.