I'm about to play Bubble Football
which, let's be honest, is possibly one of the most ridiculous games of football it's possible to play
but is it not the most ridiculous game of football in history.
That goes to 1994 and the Carribean Cup match between Barbados and Grenada.
When [WHISTLE] oh blimey -- Barbados went into that match -- aaugh!
You know what?, I'm gonna tell this story later!
The 1994 Carribean cup. It is Barbados vs. Grenada.
Barbados need to win by two clear goals in order to qualify, just winning isn't good enough.
So, in they go. By halfway through the match they're up 2-0, but, with just seven minutes left
Grenada pull one back and it is 2-1. Which means Barbados, despite winning the match,
ain't going through, they haven't won by two clear goals.
Now, there is a stupid rule in this particular tournament, that if a match is drawn,
it goes to extra time, overtime as the Americans would call it, and then ends on the first goal,
which counts double, which counts for two.
So Barbados realise, hold on, we're 2-1 down, if we just score an own goal,
equalise the score, we're gonna have half an hour of extra time in which we just need to score one goal
to go through because of this stupid doubling rule.
So they do. They tap it back and forth and then ... own goal, in their own net.
2-2. And then, with just three minutes left, Grenada realise, hold on, they need to win by two goals!
It doesn't matter whether the score is 3-2 or 2-3, we'll go through either way,
as long as we score somewhere! So, with three minutes, Grenada are desperately trying to score
either a goal or an own goal, because both will let them through. And they don't manage it.
It goes to extra time, Barbados score the golden goal and Barbados go through.
And the moral of the story is this: If you want to avoid ridiculous games of football,
or any kind of game, if you're changing the rules, make sure you test them thoroughly first
for what economists call "perverse incentives".
And if you want a ridiculous game of football then I thoroughly recommend that.
Just remember to wear contacts.
That hurt(!)
That ... believe it or not, is something from the world of sport -- which I don't think I've covered before --
that you might not have known.
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