For Sunderland fans, it’s probably the easiest pub quiz question to answer: what was strange about Sunderland’s goal against Liverpool on 17 October 2009? When did a beach ball affect a Premier League game, and why should you not throw objects onto a football pitch!?
I remember it as a sunny afternoon, a packed-out Stadium of Light and a new striking hero who was in red-hot form — as well as third season in the Premier League in what was to turn out to be our longest consecutive run in the new top flight of ten seasons. Of course, because it’s my birth year, I can’t forget that we’d previously been in the top flight for fifty-seven seasons until yours truly was born in 1958!
There was a carnival-type atmosphere — helped by the Liverpool fans, who in those days were housed in the Roker End — and this aided and abetted their own downfall.
We’d made a decent start to the season under Steve Bruce, winning three of our first four home games, and with Darren Bent having already found the back of the net seven times in eight games.
Prior to kick-off, the news filtered through that there would be no Fernando Torres or Steven Gerrard for the Reds, which was fine by me.
Positivity filled the air, and it was as early as the fifth minute in the game when one of the inflatables that was being bounced around amongst the visiting Scousers found its way onto the pitch. Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina seemed to have ample opportunities to clear the beach ball out of the way, yet he chose not to.
Very soon afterwards, Andy Reid crossed the ball into the box, and Bent struck a shot towards the Liverpool goal.
It seemed a fairly innocuous attempt and was almost certainly going to end up safely in Reina’s arms, when it hit the beach ball that was playing as an extra defender in the Liverpool back line, and the deflection took the actual ball away from a bewildered-looking Reina.
Pandemonium followed, and I’m sure many rule books were being consulted and analysed.
If VAR had got involved, I daren’t think how long they would’ve taken to come to a decision, but maybe in fairness, it may not have taken very long as the referee should’ve stopped the game as soon as the beach ball had entered the field of play.
But who cared? Not the Sunderland fans and not Bent, who notched his eighth goal in nine matches.
The Lads had started positively, and Liverpool, in their unusual black tops and gold shorts and socks, had started poorly.
The previous season’s runners-up continued to perform below par, and far from sitting back, it was Sunderland who well deserved their first-half lead.
As expected, Liverpool came to life a bit more in the second half, pushing late on for an equaliser, but Sunderland also had chances to extend their lead and the closing period of the game saw a backs-to-the-wall display from the Lads, who held on for a famous win.
There were no excuses from the Merseyside team, and manager Rafael Benitez commented:
We didn’t play well and made some mistakes, we gave the ball away and couldn’t take our chances.
It was a special situation, but we didn’t play well so I don’t want to talk about it.
Years later, Reina was still being asked about ’Beachballgate’.
I’ve been asked so many times why I just didn’t kick the beach ball away off the pitch as soon as it was thrown on, but I only realised it was right in front of me when Andy Reid crossed the proper ball into the box, and there it was.
Even after spotting it, I didn’t think it was about to play a part in one of the craziest goals scored in English football history.
Darren Bent had a shot. I knew I had it covered until the ball collided with the beach ball and flew past me into the net. My first instinct was to chase the linesman, as I knew something wasn’t right.
But I have to be honest and admit I didn’t know what the actual rule was.
“You must have seen that!”, I shouted at him, but he just replied that the ball had been deflected. “You’re f****** joking”, I said.
“It was impossible not to see that — either you’re lying to my face, or you think I’m stupid”.
“No no no Pepe,” he replied, “I am sure”.
“You’ve got to be taking the p***!”, I shouted at him.
If you want to pay your respects to the beach ball, it’s on display at the Sunderland Fans Museum, alongside Bent’s boots!
Barclays Premier League
17 October 2009
Stadium of Light
Attendance: 47,327
Sunderland 1 (Bent 5’; assist: Bobby Beach Ball)
Liverpool 0
Sunderland: Gordon; Bardsley, McCartney (Henderson 46’), Turner; Ferdinand, Malbranque, Cana; Reid, Cattermole (Zenden 58’), Bent; Jones (Campbell 66’)
Liverpool: Reina; Johnson, Skrtel (Voronin 72’), Carragher; Agger, Aurelio, Babel (Ngog 80’); Benayoun, Leiva, Spearing; (Mascherano 72’), Kuyt.