Excellent fair play in the Norwegian league.

SDTimeout

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/world-of-sport/team-allow-opponents-score-accidental-goal-115820311.html

Excellent sportsmanship!

Borat_Sagdiyev

SDTimeout wrote: »

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/world-of-sport/team-allow-opponents-score-accidental-goal-115820311.html

Excellent sportsmanship!

For those on mobiles:

Norwegian football doesn't often hit the headlines, but an amazing sequence of events in a top flight match at the weekend has got the entire sport buzzing after a fantastic demonstration of fair play.

Lillestrom were hosting Brann in an Eliteserien clash on Sunday, and with both teams in the relegation zone there was huge pressure to clinch three points.

An end-to-end first half had ended 3-2 in favour of Brann and the stage was set for a thrilling conclusion to the match - but the match changed just four minutes into the second half when a Lillestrom player went down injured, and the home side booted the ball into touch to allow him to get treated.

When the game restarted Brann midfielder Erik Mjelde thumped the ball back to the home side's goalkeeper, as etiquette dictates in the circumstances.

That's when it all went horribly wrong: the ball bounced clean over Lillestrom's Icelandic goalkeeper Stefan Logi Magnusson and into the net, putting the visitors 4-2 up and sparking ugly scenes as the furious home side rounded on Mjelde for scoring. Even Mjelde's own team-mates had a go at him for what they saw as poor sportsmanship.

It seems pretty unfair to have blamed Mjelde - after all, as the video above shows it was clearly a casual whack that only found its way into the net by fluke - but Brann's players decided to do the right thing and let their opponents score an unopposed goal of their own in reply.

Lillestrom's Björn Bergmann was allowed to stroll up the pitch and knock the ball into the net to cut the deficit back to one goal... or at least that was what was supposed to happen.

It wasn't that the memo hadn't reached Brann's Polish goalkeeper Piotr Leciejewski, more that he clearly believed that Magnusson was to blame for his lack of concentration and was damned if he would gift their opponents a goal in such a key game.

A furious disagreement ensued between Brann's stars, one which ultimately resulted in the bizarre sight of the outfield players standing still as Bergmann waltzed past them until he came up against Leciejewski, who did his level best to prevent the attacker from scoring.

Not that it mattered: Bergmann rounded Leciejewski and slotted home, incidentally completing a hat-trick as he did so.

It didn't do Lillestrom any good, though: the Gods of Football and Karma came together to reward Brann for their sportsmanship as they hung on for a victory to climb out of the Norwegian drop zone.

Redzer7

Goal keeper tried hard enough to save it in fairness :pac:

PhlegmyMoses

Keeper was having none of it.

Why were they all moaning at him? As if he meant to bounce the ball in such a way that it would bounce over the goalkeeper.

markc1184

Brann goalkeeper was getting very animated over it all.

Mr. Presentable

Another good reason to let the referee decide when to stop play.

28064212

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

Another good reason to let the referee decide when to stop play.

How would that have helped? Ref would have restarted with a drop ball, and it would have been booted back to the keeper

kitakyushu

Brann has moral fiber.

Oranage2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4yML7tI1qo

abouttobebanned

Bastards let down my accum.

stovelid

I disagree.

Scoring flukey accidental goals against your rivals that also profoundly embarrass and outrage them is one of football's great pleasures.

I am pie

stovelid wrote: »

I disagree.

Scoring flukey accidental goals against your rivals that also profoundly embarrass and outrage them is one of football's great pleasures.

It was the keepers responsibility to handle that ball back to him, he messed it up and cost his team a goal.

If i was the manager I'd have got the hairdryer out for the 10 eejits who let the other lad waltz through. They'd be better off in a hippy commune than on the pitch ! Fair play to the polish keeper, he knows the difference between competitive sport and a fukkin kickabout in the park with your mates.

enfant terrible

Who secretly always tries to do this when your passing the ball back?