England farce that led to an 18-second match
England women win with retaken penalty five days after official’s error
ONE penalty, a quiz answer in waiting and an extraordinary precedent that might just linger. That was the surreal upshot of one of the shortest international matches in history last night, when 22 women from England and Norway’s Under 19 sides got together for a few seconds of football.
Leah Williamson stood up, a player for Arsenal ladies but virtually anonymous in wider conversations about football. Not any more. She found out on Wednesday that England would have to visit the Seaview Stadium in Belfast for a single penalty.
She rode the storm and tucked it away for 2-2 and a place in the European Championship this summer. ‘ They were the longest 24 hours of my life, I hadn’t slept,’ Williamson said. ‘I went through so many emotions.
‘We had a conversation just before I came out which was quite emotional. We have been through a bigger journey than some people go through in their whole careers.’
The broader context here was the decision that led to this tiny portion of a match being repeated five days after it was first played.
The details are famous by now, as is the protagonist. Williamson scored a 96th-minute penalty to make it 2-2 against Norway last Saturday, but her England teammate Rosella Ayane had encroached on the box. Instead of ordering a retake, rising German referee Marija Kurtes made a startling error and gave Norway a free-kick.
The possibilities that will arise from UEFA deciding to restage the last 18 seconds of that game are fascinating. Daniel Geey, a sports lawyer at Fieldfisher, last night told Sportsmail: ‘Many would see this as a dangerous precedent. There’s effectively a Pandora’s Box opening to clubs questioning refereeing mistakes in matches that may, for example, determine promotion or relegation.’
A UEFA spokesman said: ‘ We have no reason to suspect leading referees would be capable of such basic errors.’