One of the better shows of sportsmanship you’ll ever see in world soccer took place over the weekend, when English League One club Doncaster Rovers allowed Bury to score after mistakenly taking the lead in the dying moments of their eventual 1-1 draw on Saturday.
Doncaster took a 1-0 lead while attempting to return the ball to Bury after the visitors had played the ball out of bounds following a 90th minute injury stoppage. Harry Forrester collected a throw-in and hit a ball back towards the Bury goalkeeper, but he gave his 40-yard effort a bit too much juice, sailing it over the ‘keeper’s head and into the back of the net.
The goal didn’t sit well with Forrester or Doncaster manager Paul Dickov, who attempted to convince the referee to call a foul throw and disallow the strike. After that failed, Dickov instructed his players to let Bury score off the kickoff, with the Doncaster defense allowing forward Leon Clarke to waltz through their half and dribble home an equalizer.
The decision wasn’t exactly an agonizing one for Dickov, who said he “didn’t really think twice about allowing them to equalize,” adding “we just had to allow them to score because you can’t win a game like that.”
Bury manager David Flitcroft applauded Doncaster’s sportsmanship, saying that Dickov “put football in a good place” with the decision. Some Rovers fans didn’t quite feel the same, with more than a few booing the display as Clarke dribbled in for the late equalizer at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium.
