Question on football’s rules from ITV quiz show The Chase leaves fans – and ex-footballer presenter Bradley Walsh – baffled… so do YOU know what happens when a direct free-kick goes straight into a team’s own goal?
- Football fans were left stunned by an answer on ‘The Chase’ relating to the game
- The question was on what happens if a direct free-kick goes in a team’s own net
- Quiz show host Bradley Walsh and other fans believed the results is an own goal
- But everyone was left stunned when the laws state that a corner is given instead
- It was a moment to forget for Walsh, who used to be a professional footballer
Football fans were left baffled this week after a question on ITV’s ‘The Chase’ revealed an ‘archaic’ rule on what happens if a team puts a direct free-kick into their own goal.
The show, hosted by former footballer Bradley Walsh, presented a question to a contestant revealed what would happen in that outcome – and viewers were stunned when the correct answer was a corner kick to the opposition.
Football supporters – including Walsh – believed that a direct free-kick put into their own net would result in a goal to the opposition, but the FA’s Laws of the Game actually give a corner to the opposition.
Bradley Walsh and other football fans were left stunned after a question revealed a bizarre rule
The laws of the game state a corner is given if a direct free-kick goes into a team’s own net
Before the answer was revealed, Walsh was confident that the answer would be a goal, telling the female contestant: ‘You don’t have to (watch football to know the answer). If a direct free-kick goes into its team’s own goal, then it’s got to be a goal, because it’s an own goal.’
When the contestant chose corner as her answer, the quiz show host retorted: ‘You’ve put a corner?! Why have you done that? It’s got to be a goal. A goal’s a goal.’
But when the contestant was proved to be right, Walsh was left red-faced and couldn’t believe the laws – even though he spent three years as an up-and-coming professional player between 1979 and 1982.
Walsh was left stunned, saying: ‘I’m not having that,’ while the contestant cheekily told the former footballer: ‘Every day’s a school day!’.
And when fans checked the FA’s website on the Laws of the Game, regulation 13 did indeed show that a corner is given instead of the wrongly-assumed own goal option.
The moment was particularly embarrassing for Walsh, who became a professional player at Brentford in the late 1970s but never made an appearance for the Bees’ first-team.
Walsh played for the west London club’s reserves before heading out on loan to Barnet where he played five times in the Southern Football League. The TV icon also had stints at Boreham Wood, Tring Town and Chalfont St Peter.