Back in 1965, when Graeme Jones scored an important goal for his school, he reveled like only a ten-year-old football fanatic could.
Little did he know that ever since, players on the other team have held a vendetta against him since the goal that cost them a victory was a foul.
Now, Mr. Jones, 60, has organized a rematch with the exact same lineup as the one in September 1972 when he, in the last seconds, pushed the keeper with the ball yards past the goal line to win a “dubious” draw, in an effort to “make right a wrong.”
For the rematch, which took place on Saturday, Mr. Jones spent 18 months putting together the teams from his school, Gayton Primary, and St. Peter’s CofE on the Wirral.
But it seems that karma hit him again, when his squad was shockingly defeated by their opponents 6-2.
Despite being dissatisfied with the outcome, Mr. Jones, a former Royal Navy drill instructor, said he could finally put his “demons to bed.”
After controversially shoving the goalie across the line to win his team a draw in 1972, Graeme Jones spent 18 months organizing a football rematch in an effort to “fix a right wrong.”
The former Navy instructor (behind right in the image) learned that the opposite side had harbored resentment over the goal’s method for a long time.
The Gayton Primary 11 reunited after 50 years to replicate the game and the image, with Mr. Jones positioned back to the right.
For the rematch, Mr. Jones, now 60, was able to put together the same identical lineups from his school, Gayton Primary, and St. Peter’s CofE on the Wirral.
They had to bring in a few ringers, so we got stuffed, he said.
We would have lost anyhow, but my conscience is now clean.
After discovering a piece of a picture of his former team while in lockdown in 2020, Mr. Jones came up with the concept for the match.
Mr. Jones even managed to get in touch with his former physical education instructor, Alan Jones, who gave his team the contentious equalizer.
He was astonished to learn that there was animosity between him and his neighbor Craig Allen, who had scored the opposition’s lone goal in the 1972 contest.
I remember that game, and I’ve never forgiven you, he said to me. In the last seconds, you pushed the goalie into the corner about ten feet past the line, and your PE instructor awarded the goal.
When I was a center half, Mr. Jones said, “I simply came up and bulldozed my way through.”
In a reproduction of the team portrait taken on Saturday, Mr. Jones spent months tracking down the original players. I had to intimidate a few individuals into doing it, he said. The opponents put up a squad, but I left them some wiggle room on their side of the age spectrum.
He even got in touch with Alan Jones, his former physical education instructor, who gave his team the contentious equalizer. He was granted the privilege of seeing the coin toss before to the game even though he was now in his mid-80s.