Football is a fairly straightforward game. Everyone knows the basic rules of the sport, the laws which are part and parcel of every match that you watch.
Of course, there are also some lesser used rules that don't come up that often. That can lead to confusion on the occasions that they are required.
This was the case on a recent episode of The Chase, when a question was asked about an obscure football rule that would only be used in a very specific scenario.
The question read:
In football, if a direct free-kick goes straight into a team's own goal, what is awarded to the opposing team?
The possible answers were a goal, indirect free-kick, or corner.
While the wording of the question is a little bit confusing, it is actually a fairly straightforward query. Essentially, it asks what would happen if a team scored an own goal from their own direct free-kick.
You would just assume that the opposition would be awarded the goal, but that apparently is not the case due to some obscure rule.
Presenter Bradley Walsh, who himself was on the books at Brentford as a youngster, was absolutely baffled by the question. You can watch the exchange below.
Yo to my football gs. What is this pls pic.twitter.com/NXNen7DBZN
— jermaine something 🇯🇲 (@gviz91) February 1, 2022
A very odd rule, but a valid one. The FA states that: "If a direct or indirect free kick is kicked directly into the team's own goal, a corner kick is awarded."
Basically, you act as though the ball has crossed the end line and not the goal line. We have no idea why that is the case.
It is a scenario that is very unlikely to happen in a game, but now you know what will happen in the event that it does. In all likelihood, it's probably going to happen to Spurs.
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