On April Fool's day, BT Sport decided to swerve some quick, cheap laughs by instead exposing human existence as a meaningless folly deserving only of hollow, exasperated laughter by screening Southampton v Bournemouth in the Premier League.
The game finished 0-0, and the only memorable moment was one of underachievement by Harry Arter. With 12 minutes left, Ryan Fraser went down in the penalty area under a challenge by Nathan Redmond.
Referee Jon Moss pointed to the spot, and up stepped Irish international Harry Arter. Taking his first penalty since November 2012, Arter steadied himself, ran up....and skied it.
He did seem to slip as he approached it, and as soon as the ball was soaring through the air, Arter looked back at the turf that had given way beneath him.
You may remember a similar fate befell Harry Kane at the same ground earlier in the season: he skied a penalty for Spurs after the same patch of earth gave way beneath him.
Regardless, very few had sympathy for the Irish international.
Hey @HarryArter2 your football broke my bedroom window! Try keeping the ball in the stadium next time 😅😉
— Chris (@ThisIsChrisx) April 1, 2017
North Korean armed forces on full alert as Harry Arter's penalty enters their airspace. #sotvbor pic.twitter.com/tzal86CVi6
— Danny Kelly (@dannykellywords) April 1, 2017
@HarryArter2 I'm after a penalty taker for my Rugby team, You up for it
— Darren lillywhite (@dazzer30) April 1, 2017
