Arsenal sportsmanship: Looking back at Arsene Wenger’s unprecedented gesture

VAR has its problems and has frustrated fans – Arsenal included – since it started being used last season. It’s led to numerous debates and controversies, with the latest farcical situation taking place during Brighton’s recent visit to West Brom.

Referee Lee Mason blew his whistle for a free-kick, and Brighton’s Lewis Dunk took it quickly and scored. Then things got a bit out of hand. Apparently, Mason had blown his whistle a second time right after the first whistle. The match officials turned to VAR which showed that the ball hadn’t crossed the line before the second whistle. No goal.

It was truly bizarre and Brighton had every right to feel hard done by. Prompting me to think, actually, what if in the name of good sportsmanship they replayed the match? I know it sounds ridiculous, but it has actually happened before. In 1999, Arsene Wenger agreed to a replay after Arsenal had benefitted from a controversial play.

It was the 1999 FA Cup fifth-round tie between Arsenal and Sheffield United. Following a United player receiving treatment for an injury, it was expected that possession would be returned to the Blades, who had originally kicked the ball out of play. However, the Gunners’ Nwankwo Kanu was new to the league and was unfamiliar with this unwritten rule. The Nigerian collected the resulting throw-in and crossed the ball to Marc Overmars, who scored what looked like the winning goal.

Arsenal sportsmanship vs Sheffield United in 1999: Looking back at Arsene Wenger’s unprecedented gesture

The incident resulted in an eight-minute delay as then Sheffield United manager, Steve Bruce, and his players, complained vociferously to the match officials. Referee Peter Jones refused to rule out the goal and the game continued.

Afterward, Bruce continued to protest about what he felt was an injustice. In what can only be described as an amazing example of good sportsmanship, Arsene Wenger offered to replay the match. He explained, via the Telegraph:

"“The second goal is a controversial goal, and we feel that it is not right. We have the feeling that we didn’t win the game like we want to win our games.“The important word that comes to mind is respect for the spirit of football. Without that there is no game anymore. We broke no rule of football when we scored that second goal through Marc Overmars but, quite simply, it was not fair."

"“Even if sometimes the rules are not written down to cover a certain a situation, there is respect and there is the spirit in which football should be played.“There is no crime in wanting to win, but it has to be in the right way. You cannot create a rule to cover every eventuality, but you can react the right way if there has been a wrong. That is why we as a club – the chairman, vice chairman – the entire board of directors, me, and the players – wanted the cup tie to be re-staged. It was the only sensible answer to a difficult situation.”"

The FA accepted Wenger’s offer and the match was replayed ten days later. Arsenal won the replay by the same score of 2-1, with Dutch duo of Overmars and Dennis Bergkamp providing the goals. Can you imagine something like this happening again?

It would have been glorious had Arsenal been offered a replay in the 2011 Champions League round of 16 when Robin van Persie was given a ridiculous red card for kicking a ball seconds after the whistle blew – albeit never to have ever happened. If it had, you could pluck out a hundred examples from every single matchweek across the world for the sake of refereeing.

The 1999 case is more similar to Marcelo Bielsa forcing his Leeds team to allow Aston Villa an uncontested goal during their mad-cap 2019 meeting, with the Argentinian showcasing his Wenger-esque etiquette.

In the end, Wenger’s lesson in sportsmanship is one for the ages. I wonder if we’ll ever see something like this again.