TRUST A RUSSIAN, NOT A MONK

Some years ago I took my U18 XI to play in a schools' friendly against a Roman Catholic school at Woolhampton, near Reading called Douai School. It was independent, run by the Douai Abbey Benedictine Monastery and monks. It is now closed! The school's motto from its first founding was "Dominus Mihi Ajutor"-The Lord is my Aid. It has been an educational establishment since 1615, In the 1880s "soccer" was introduced to the school to replace the old mob game of "football" that had a rule that there should be no kicking backwards. The Douai boys provided good opposition for us and eventually the fixture faded as Douai kept Wednesdays as their main sports' afternoon and Charterhouse used Tuesdays. Sad.
Louis Wharton from Trinidad was a Oxford soccer Blue in 1919 as well as a cricket Blue in 1920. A group of Douai ex-pupils were reputed to be responsible for the "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" song at England rugby matches.
One Wednesday afternoon I was chatting to the Headmaster (Main Monk Man) and a colleague pitch side, exchanging pleasantries on the touchline, when Douai attacked and shot, sending the ball through a hole in the side netting. Our goalkeeper picked the ball up and placed it down for a goal kick while the Douai boys turned and celebrated. The referee (one of the home team's teachers) peeled away awarding the goal. I politely made the point that this should not be a goal, as did most of our players. He had none of it. I turned to get support from the monks who had been on the touchline to see this event, only to find them scurrying away down the pitch towards the sanctity of the school buildings. We took the decision on the chin, I wandered round to the hole in the net and tied it up. We drew 1-1.

Igor Netto on January 9th 1930 was born and played for the USSR in 1952, earning his first cap, eventually becoming national team captain. In June 1962 he played in a qualifying tie against Uruguay in Chile. Both teams needed a win to go through to the knock out stage. In the 75 minute a goal similar to the Douai goal was scored by the Russian striker Chislenko. Knowing that this was not a goal, Netto explained to the  referee that the goal should not stand, showing great sportsmanship. In the end the Russians scored the winner in the 89th minute and went on to lose to the hosts in the quarter-finals. Netto went on to manage teams and died in 1999.