Clive Thomas re-visited

Day -830. WorldCup2018.

Clive Thomas would have been proud of Trevor Kettle today. Kettle was the referee in the League Two match in England in which Accrington Stanley thought they had scored on the stroke of half-time against AFC Wimbledon. They did have the ball in the Wimbledon net but Kettle whistled for half-time as the ball was in the air on the way into the net. Despite the Accrington players' protests at the ridiculousness of it the referee stood by his decision and the match eventually finished 0-0.

This brought back memories of one of the most (in)famous World Cup moments presided over by Welsh referee Clive Thomas. But before getting to that one, which is only became known to me after it happened, there was another similar incident which I did watch. Iraq had a goal disallowed on the stroke of half-time in the 1986 World Cup against Paraguay. Iraq had a corner and sometime between the ball coming into the penalty area and an Iraqi player heading it into the net the referee blew for half-time. I can't remember the exact moment when the referee whistled and it's hard to find good video of it, but it was harsh on the Iraqis who were 1-0 down at the time and eventually lost by that score.

Clive Thomas' incident is more blatant and rather than going against the minnows of Iraq, his strict to the second timing denied Brazil victory over Sweden. It was 1-1 when Brazil had a corner. They took a bit of time over it and Thomas said later that this is where they used up the remaining time. From the corner the ball was headed into the net by Zico, but just as it nestled in the back of the net Thomas blew for full time. It may be the bad sound on the video but he definitely seemed to whistle after the ball crossed the line. Thomas was proud of his reputation as a stickler to the rules. His watch said 90 minutes, so that was it.

There is a curious twist for the conspiracy theorists. Watch the video and notice that just as the corner is about to be taken. Thomas goes up to the Swedish goalkeeper and seems to whisper something to him. Did Thomas tell the goalkeeper that time was up so not to worry about playing on after the corner was taken?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0JFuWqwFg4