bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

HATS off to Sing Tao for the best crowd-pulling gimmick in some time. Playing without a goalkeeper in a First Division match was guaranteed to produce the light relief needed at the end of a local season.

  Sadly for the fans, the Hong Kong Football Association did not see the funnier side of it and stuffily said that Sing Tao were showing no respect for the sport.

  The reason Sing Tao were going to play without a goalkeeper in the first place was their belief that some HKFA officials were guilty of doing worse things to local football than showing disrespect.

  Wisely, Sing Tao backed away from a pre-game showdown and tossed the goalkeeper's jersey, via a few other reluctant hands, to Chu Chi-kwong who eventually left the field to delighted roars and chants of approval.

  They may have lost 2-0 but Chu and Sing Tao did bring some life to a dead end-of-season encounter.

  Not that the situation is without precedent in football. There are many, their fans included, who would say that Scotland have played without a goalkeeper for several decades.

  Those who have masqueraded in the position include the remarkable Frank Haffey. He ended up laughing after a match in which England had stuck nine past him at Wembley.

  Not all Scots saw the joke and big Frank went to Australia where he enjoyed a very good spell entertaining the patrons of working men's clubs with a solo act not unlike that currently put on by Tommy Docherty. Whether Haffey's exile was self-imposed or otherwise is not recorded.

  I know a bit about goalkeeping and goalkeepers.

  It is true that there are some with whom I once played who would suggest I did not know enough about the position to be really useful but jealousy has always been a terrible thing.

  Not everyone knows this, but I was once, very briefly, understudy to the great Pat Jennings. That came about because the original second string broke his leg and I was available on a particular tour because I was already present in a journalistic capacity.

  Fortunately for all concerned, big Pat showed no signs of anything other than brilliance and was soon transferred to Watford.

  A colleague some months later rang the Watford manager to inquire about the big man's progress and was informed that, as far as they were concerned, he was doing very well.

  'I can't tell you what Pat thinks. The last time he spoke was to say goodbye to his mother in Newry,' added the Watford boss. Like many a good man before and since, Jennings let his actions do the talking.

  My current goalkeeping concern centres around Bernard Lama of France. Regular readers of this column may recall that I am in possession of a voucher from Ladbrokes to show a wager of GBP100 at 18-1 for France to win the European championships.

  Incidentally, you may still be able to get 12-1. Do not hesitate, they remain good value.

  Monsieur Lama does not inspire me with confidence. Nor did his predecessors who included the diminutive Jean-Luc Ettori and the current PSG assistant coach, Joel Bats. The latter reduced me to gibbering frustration with his effort in Mexico when managing to throw himself over the shot that led to a German goal and a 1-0 defeat for France in the 1986 World Cup.

  There was also Dominique Dropsy whose very name suggested the worst. I have suffered torments with French goalkeepers and fear something of the same come June. Lama can be brilliant but consistency is not necessarily the first word that springs to mind when describing his overall game.

  Consistency and a host of superlatives would best describe Gordon Banks who, on reflection, has to be the best goalkeeper I have ever seen. He narrowly shades Jennings and it has to be one of the more surprising features of the current British game that so many goalkeepers - including the best, Peter Schmeichel - are foreigners.

  Once British goalkeepers were virtually without equal. Now they are second choices in their own leagues.

  And, while Lama may be a cause of concern to some French fans, England could end up wishing that someone of Banks' calibre was available for Euro '96.

  They have none of his like at the moment.



Bank on the goalkeeper