Plaster palaver delayed start of World Cup Final

AT a Sunday morning pub league game my son was playing in recently, the kick-off was delayed because the referee had slept in!

While we were waiting, another player’s dad told me that even the biggest games can be held up as he remembers a World Cup final being delayed – but not which one. Over to you, Queries Man. – C. There have actually been delays to two World Cup finals, both involving Holland.

In 1974, the Dutch were set to take on West Germany in Munich’s Olympiastadion.

However, English referee Jack Taylor noticed that there were no corner flags.

It seems the ground staff had removed them to accommodate the closing ceremony which took place before the match, then forgot to put them back.

Four years later, in 1978, there was another delay when the Dutch were set to take on another host nation, Argentina this time, in the Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires.

Holland winger Rene van de Kerkhof had a plaster cast on his injured arm, and the Argentinians complained, saying that it was dangerous.

After a bit of a kerfuffle, van de Kerkhof had some padding put on the plaster and the game eventually got under way.

The Dutch have reached three finals, losing them all, 2-1 to West Germany in 1974, 3-1 (aet) to Argentina in 1978 and 1-0 (aet) to Spain in 2010.