FA to sanction replay after Kanu incident

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Feb 14, 1999

THE Football Association last night astonishingly announced that Arsenal's fifth-round FA Cup tie against Sheffield United will be replayed.

The game at Highbury was held up for eight minutes following a controversial winning goal by Dutch winger Marc Overmars in the holders' 2-1 victory. Recent signing Nwankwo Kanu appeared to be unaware of the unwritten rules of sportsmanship when he seized on a throw-in by team-mate Ray Parlour, intended for United goalkeeper Alan Kelly.

He crossed the ball for Overmars to score what seemed to be the winning goal in the 76th-minute, prompting a furious reaction from the visiting team who surrounded referee Peter Jones in protest. Blades fans chanted "Shame on Arsenal" for the remainder of the game and Highbury boss Arsene Wenger immediately offered to replay the game. FA spokesman Steve Double said: "We have agreed for this game to be replayed. David Davies {the FA's acting chief executive} and Terry Annabel, chairman of the Cup committee, discussed this situation immediately after the game. It is an unprecedented situation." He added: "Everybody welcomes the sporting gesture by Arsene Wenger. He is to be congratulated." The FA were unable to add any further details as to where and when the replay could be staged. United manager Steve Bruce said he had been offered a replay by both Wenger and Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein. He accepted that Kanu may not have understood his actions. Bruce said: "The one thing I can't understand is that maybe after all the hoohah, when the Arsenal players don't want the goal and are all apologising, why the referee didn't use a little bit of common sense and rule it out for ungentlemanly conduct. "It does not matter if it takes three minutes, five minutes, 10 minutes, the Arsenal players themselves didn't want the goal to stand. Common sense has got to prevail. There's no such rule that we have to throw the ball back to the opposition when somebody's injured but we do; we have for years."