Most times teams do their utmost to win matches but on occasions the rules and organisation of a competition can tempt them to do otherwise. Take the 1994 Shell Caribbean Soccer tournament in which teams were divided into groups of three where each team played one another with the group leader moving on to the later stages of the tournament.
In group one Barbados had lost 0-1 to Puerto Rico who subsequently lost 0-2 to Grenada. Hence Granada went into the last group match with a superior goal difference meaning that Barbados needed to win by at least two goals to progress to the final stages. So far so good: this was normal procedure. But some things were different in the Caribbean this time. First the organisers had decided that all games had to have a winner, so games that were tied at 90 minutes had to go to sudden death extra time in which the first goal scored gave victory. Second, and most unusually, the extra-time goal would count double meaning that the winner would be awarded a two-goal victory.
Now back to group one. With seven minutes to go in the National Stadium in Bridgetown, Barbados was leading 2-0 and cruising its way into the knockout stages. Then unexpectedly Granada scored. This meant that, despite losing the game, Grenada would qualify for the finals on better goal difference. The Grenada team retreated to a mass defence to protect their goal and their place in the next stages. The penny dropped with the Barbadian players and two defenders inter-passed before one of them slammed the ball past his own goalkeeper making the game tied 2-2 and thus giving the Barbadians a chance of scoring a golden goal in extra time which would secure them a two-goal win and putting them through on goal difference. The Grenadians then realised that if they too scored an own goal, the consequent 2-3 defeat would actually still eliminate Barbados. So the Barbadian players then started defending not only their own nets but also the Grenadian goal as a goal at either end would be disastrous for their progression. For the last five normal minutes of the match spectators witnessed Grenada attempting to score in either goal while Barbados defended both ends of the pitch trying to successfully ensure a drawn game and extra time.
In the extra period of play Barbados scored the golden goal, were awarded a 4-2 victory, and moved on to next stage in which they finished third in their achieve third place in Group A of the 1994 Caribbean Cup after drawing against Guadeloupe and Dominica and losing to the home team Trinidad and Tobago, which went on to win the tournament.
Another instance of unanticipated consequences of tournament structure came in English football. Following the introduction of a second division into the English Football League in 1892, promotion and relegation were determined by playoffs involving the bottom two teams in the First Division and the top two in the Second. Each of the First Division Clubs played each of the Second Division clubs home and away. The top two teams that emerged from this mini league were then promoted to or retained in the First Division. At the close of the 1897/98 season First Division Stoke and Blackburn faced off against Second Division Burnley and Newcastle. After each team had played three matches Burnley and Stoke both had four points (two for a win in those days) whilst Newcastle and Blackburn both had two points. Hence if Stoke was to draw its final game with Burnley both teams were guaranteed promotion no matter what the result of the Newcastle against Blackburn match. Whether there was any collusion is a moot point, but the game on 30 April at the Victoria Ground, Stoke on Trent ended in a scoreless draw with allegedly not one shot on goal during the entire 90 minutes. Stoke retained its place in the First Division and Burnley gained promotion. In the event the game turned out to be meaningless as the League decided to expand to 18 teams in each division and both Newcastle and Blackburn were elected to the extra places.
For the Record
On Saturday 16 May 2015 Stoke achieved its highest ever points total of 51 in the English Premier League in a scoreless draw against – you’ve guessed it – Burnley.
