Plus: the goalkeeper sent off for drinking; Chelsea: record-breakers?; and has a flamethrower ever been used to thaw out a frozen pitch? Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk and follow us on Twitter
"In a recent game between Singapore Welsh and, ironically, our German counterparts, kick-off was delayed as neither team had a ball," wrote Gar Mogs last week. "Has any game played at a slightly more professional level been delayed due to an equipment glitch?"
Immediately the biggest game of them all springs to mind. The start of the 1974 World Cup final between the hosts, Germany, and Holland was delayed by the game's English referee, Jack Taylor, because the ground staff had forgotten to put the corner flags out on the pitch. Johan van Slooten provides some detail: "They had been removed to accommodate the closing ceremony which took place before the final." Taylor himself later recalled how he couldn't believe how he found himself in the midst of such an amateur error in the biggest game of his career. "It was so funny it wasn't true," he told Midlands paper Express and Star. "As a local referee I remember doing a game where a guy came up to me and said 'you've got to restart.' I asked why and he said 'there's no corner flags'. It's something I never forgot and so when you come to a World Cup final in Germany, such an efficient nation who never make mistakes, and there's no corner flags you can't believe it. There's millions of people watching and here I am, this one little guy, coming all the way around the pitch sticking corner flags in."
The 1974 final is not the only big game to have suffered a somewhat farcical delay – in fact it isn't even the only World Cup final that didn't get under way at the scheduled time. Four years later in Argentina, when Holland again faced the hosts in the deciding match, the kick-off was again delayed, as Mal Perry explains. "Before the start of the 1978 World Cup Final René van de Kerkhof caused a delay because the Argentinians objected to the fact he was wearing a plaster cast on his injured arm. The ref messed about for a bit, Van de Kerkhof went off and got some padding put on his arm and the game got under way. Of course, that was not the most contentious event in that competition."
In fact there were so many delays during the 1978 World Cup that it's surprising matches aren't still being played. "There is no higher professional level than the World Cup and even there 'equipment glitches' have occurred," writes Richard Franks. "I'm thinking of the France v Hungary first round group game in Argentina '78 when, due to some kind of communications breakdown, both teams turned up with only their change kits, both featuring white shirts. There was a lengthy delay (all covered live on TV) while officials went off in search of an alternative kit. They returned with the green and white striped shirts of a local fifth division side called Club Atlético Kimberley, which the French ended up wearing for their 3-1 win. Don't believe anyone who tries to tell you that the ad hoc shirt change was due to France's blue shirts and Hungary's red shirts looking indistinguishable on Argentine black and white TV – the visual evidence shows Hungary playing in white.
Several of you provided the example of the 1997-98 Champions League semi-final first leg between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund the start of which was delayed for over an hour while officials scoured around for a new set of goalposts. Maurice Séché takes up the story: "Some Madridistas – being very excited with just a few minutes to kick-off – climbed the safety fence behind the goal which separated the pitch from the audience. Due to the weight of the supporters the fence cracked and so did the goal posts because the net of the goal was fixed to the fence. It was 20.44 (German time) with the game to kick off just one minute later. Any attempt to fix the broken posts failed and there was no spare goal available in the Bernabéu and a goal had to be brought from the training ground of Real Madrid – which took approximately an hour. The game finally kicked off with 76 minutes delay.
"The commentators on German TV were at their very best that night (and were granted a TV award afterwards), joking all the time and making fun of typical commentators' phrases (at least on German TV) like: "It has never been before that a goal would do that good to the match" (ridiculing the standard phrase "A goal would do good to the match") or a wordplay (working only in German): 'For those of you who just joined us: Das erste Tor ist bereits gefallen' which has a double-meaning in German: the first goal has already been scored and (literally translated) the first goal has fallen down. Credit to Borussia, though they lost 0-2 they did not protest."
There are examples of delays in European club football's greatest competition that would be more at home in your local pub league. This is example from Sean DeLoughry shows what the Champions League is all about: "When League of Ireland champions Bohemians entertained Estonia's Levadia in the qualifying rounds of the 2001-2 Champions League kick off was delayed by about 20 minutes when Levadia took issue with the height of one of the crossbars at Bohemians' Dalymount Park. A ladder and tape measure was duly produced and it transpired that the centre of the cross bar was an inch or so too low. Lacking the equipment or wherewithal to raise the height of the bar Bohs ground staff employed lateral thinking, got the pitch roller out and managed to press the goal area down the necessary inch. Bohs ignored the distraction and cruised to a 3-0 win."
A DRINK TOO FAR
"Has a goalkeeper ever received two yellow cards in the same game for time wasting?" tweeted RD1133 last week.
You'd have to push your luck to achieve such an ignominious dismissal, but Ljungskile goalkeeper Michal Slawuta managed it in an away game at Trelleborg that back in April 2008.
"With Ljungskile leading 2-1 in the 90th minute, he took too long during a goal kick and was booked," writes David Ekstrand. "He then went over to the other post to drink water, and was promptly booked again. According to Slawuta himself, he just happened to be thirsty, and the water bottle just happened to be on the other side of the goal."
The referee felt that heading off for a drink was "incredibly unsportsmanlike conduct". Slawuta, though, was unrepentant: "If I end up in a similar situation, I will do the same again," he told the Expressen newspaper. "At least we won three important points so I am satisfied anyway. Shit happens."
CHELSEA: RECORD BREAKERS?
"If Chelsea win the Champions League next week, they will have done so while finishing sixth in the Premier League," writes Josh Havers. "Would this be the lowest league finish for a team winning the European Cup?"
In a word, no. Three teams have matched or equalled that feat. Juventus finished sixth in Serie A when winning the European Cup in 1984-85, Bayern Munich were 10th in Bundesliga in 1974-75 when winning the second of three successive European titles, and topping the lot Aston Villa limped to an 11th-place finish in the First Division en route to their European Cup win in 1981-82.
The full breakdown of European Cup winners by league position is: first (23), second (12), third (11), fourth (two), fifth (four), sixth (one), 10th (one) and 11th (one).
KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE
"There's a story doing the rounds at my local that Blackpool once resorted to using a flamethrower to thaw out their frozen pitch," wrote Bill Winkles back in 2007. "Would I be right to think it's total guff?"
Well Bill, it's not quite true, but it is closer to reality than you might imagine. The winter of 1962-63 was extremely harsh, and Blackpool suffered more than most as their pitch completely froze over to the point where they couldn't play a single home game between 15 December and 2 March. Some players even took to ice skating on the pitch, as revealed by the following gem, dug out of the West Lancashire Evening Gazette's archives by Seasiders historian Gerry Wolstenholme:
"At Bloomfield Road Jimmy Armfield and Tony Waiters ice skated on the pitch on January 8 1963 and two days later they were joined by Barrie Martin, 'Mandy' Hill and two other players. On January 29 1963 Blackpool used a disc harrow to try to get the game against West Ham United played on February 2 1963 but that too proved ineffective and on January 30 1963 the players swept a heavy fall of snow from the pitch in a vain hope that it would be clear underneath, but the ice – one to four inches thick – was 'as formidable as ever'."
But it was actually Norwich who attempted, unsuccessfully, to defrost their playing surface with fire. Their scheduled FA Cup third-round tie at home to Blackpool had been postponed 11 times, and, as the same piece of archive reveals, they were willing to try just about anything by the end. "In an attempt to get the game played, the Carrow Road pitch was treated with flamethrowers on January 22 1963 as, according to a Norwich spokesman, 'a last desperate effort'. However they 'served no purpose whatsoever' for 'as fast as the ice melted it froze again'. An icebreaker was also used but it too proved ineffective."
For thousands more questions and answers take a trip through the Knowledge archive
Can you help?
David Williams poses a question regarding Ashley Cole: "If Chelsea lose the Champions League final, Ashley Cole will have lost three Champions League Finals (2006, 2008 and 2012), but won seven FA Cup Finals (2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012), both of which will be records. Do any other players have any similar juxtaposed records for winning and losing certain competitions?"
"If Blackpool beat West Ham in the Championship play-off, then Scott Dobbie will have won three successive play-off finals (Blackpool, Swansea, then Blackpool again)," says Brian Cloughley. "That has to be some kind of record, but has anyone managed to get promoted from the same league on more than three consecutive occasions (whether through the play-offs or not)?"
"Steve Kean's record at Blackburn shows a win rate of around 20%, and has done for some time," states Ian Astley. "Whilst a number of Premier League managers have had similar percentages, has anyone remained in charge of a Premier League outfit for as many games as Kean has?"
"In the fifth episode (I think – I don't have the DVD now to confirm) of Kieslowski's Dekalog (very Guardian, I know), the protaganist is passed on a dark street (in Warsaw?) by two or three men who, for a split second, can be seen holding a West Bromwich Albion scarf," writes Ben Watson. Being of an Albion persuasion myself, I took to the internet to find an explanation but around three years of Googling (not constantly!), I am none the wiser. Can anyone explain why they might be there?"
"Wolves defeat at Wigan on the last day of the season, completed Terry Connor's full reign of 13 games in charge at Molineux without ever achieving a victory," writes Kevin Porter. "The challenge is to name another manager who exceeded this number of games without a win during the entirety of their employment at the post."
Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk.
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