40-0 in a college match – of soccer!
Forty goals were scored during a first XI football match between two South Island secondary schools this week – all by the same team.
Christchurch Boys’ High School scored at a relentless rate of one goal every 90 seconds to beat Verdon College 40-0 at the New Zealand secondary schools Linwood tournament in Invercargill on Monday.
The headmaster of the winning school said it was ‘‘an unfortunate matchup’’.
A tournament official said Christchurch Boys’ player Liam Mcintyre scored 11 of his team’s 40 goals with 12 different players getting their name on the scoresheet during the 60-minute match.
Despite putting 40 goals past the opposition, Christchurch Boys’ headmaster Nic Hill said his school ‘‘did not get carried away’’ and ‘‘did not demean the opposition’’.
He put the massive score down to Verdon being a ‘‘mismatched team’’.
‘‘It was the first game of the tournament.
‘‘They wanted to start well but they scored some goals quite quickly and from the 12th minute mark they started making substitutions and took off their four best attacking players, including three strikers and a midfielder,’’ Hill said.
‘‘At halftime they sort of said to the boys ‘we’ve never had this’ so they focused on possession rather than scoring, but the key message was to keep the respect’’.
Verdon College principal Jarlath Kelly said his school fielded a team as they wanted to give students a chance to attend a tournament during tournament week.
He said the first XI had been decimated by illness and unavailability and he was proud of the players who fronted up.
‘‘They committed to the tournament so they didn’t pull out and we’re pretty proud of our kids,’’ Kelly said. ‘‘They’re not humiliated. They turned up to play.’’
Christchurch Boys’ won their next game 7-0.
Tournament director Fiona Ward said the Verdon College players kept their chins up despite the mounting score.
‘‘They were totally outclassed and it was obviously a mismatch but I thought Verdon showed good spirit in the face of that big defeat.’’
She understood some players had withdrawn before the tournament and they fielded the bare 11 players for the match.
Verdon lost 14-0 in their two other games but had not dropped their bottom lips, she said.
She believed there would be big score lines in other satellite tournaments around the country, saying seedings hadn’t been done in the past two years due to Covid-19.
As big as Christchurch Boys’ victory was, it did not even come close to the world record for the biggest win.
That was set in Madagascar in 2002 when Stade Olympique L’emyrne scored 149 own goals in protest over a refereeing decision in a previous match to purposely lose 149-0 to AS Adema.
Australia’s men’s team holds the record for the biggest win in international football after beating American Samoa 31-0 in 2001.
‘‘We’re pretty proud of our kids. They’re not humiliated. They turned up to play.’’ Jarlath Kelly Verdon College principal