Martyn Kelly recalled wishing he had a stool to stand on, just like the other children in the stadium, to get a clearer view. The world’s first official penalty shootout was not something he wanted blocked by the heads of those around him.
On a warm August evening in 1970 at Boothferry Park in Hull, a star-studded Manchester United team finished extra time locked at 1-1 with second-tier Hull City in a cup match. Just six weeks earlier, football’s lawmakers had voted to replace the coin toss for deciding tied matches with a system where five players from each side would take turns shooting from 11 yards with only the goalkeeper to beat.
“Blimey,” thought then-11-year-old Hull City supporter Kelly. “It’s George Best, one of the greatest players ever. He’s going to take the first penalty in the world’s first penalty shootout.” It was a moment worth witnessing.
At that time, no one could have predicted that this new method for breaking deadlocks would become a nerve-wracking ordeal that some fans, managers, and players can barely watch.
Source: Hull City
The Watney Cup, a pre-season competition that ran from 1970 to 1973, featured the highest-scoring teams from the top four divisions (with some exceptions). Before this, cup or knockout matches that ended in draws were decided by replays, drawing lots, or coin tosses.
At the 1968 European Championship, Italy advanced to the final after correctly guessing the coin flip following a 0-0 draw against the Soviet Union. The final against Yugoslavia also ended 1-1, with Italy winning 2-0 two days later in a replay.
For critics of the existing tie-breaking methods, the final breaking point came four months later. In the 1968 Olympic quarter-finals, Israel’s captain drew a piece of paper saying ‘no’ from a large sombrero hat, determining his team had lost to Bulgaria after a 1-1 draw. Some Israeli football officials were furious.
Israeli FA official Yosef Dagan argued there had to be a better way to settle such crucial moments – one that relied less on luck and more on skill. Together with Michael Almog, who later became Israel’s FA chief, Dagan developed the penalty shootout concept and submitted an official proposal to FIFA in 1969, which was published in the governing body’s magazine.
In the proposal, Almog called for an end to “this way of deciding the winner by drawing lots, an immoral and even cruel system for the losing team and not honourable for the winner.” He proposed a shootout of five penalties per side, continuing with sudden death if still level.
The idea sparked intense debate before being adopted by football’s lawmakers, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), at its AGM in Inverness on June 27, 1970. Aside from draws, coin tosses, and replays, there had been other historical methods to settle ties, including sharing titles or counting corners, and earlier versions of penalty shootouts had been used in some domestic and minor competitions.
Source: Hull City Image caption: The Watney Cup was a pre-season competition from 1970 to 1973 that featured the highest scoring teams from the top four divisions (with some exceptions)
When BBC Sport asked FIFA to confirm whether the Watney Cup shootout was the first official one, world football’s governing body replied it does not have “any records confirming or denying the claim.” However, the National Football Museum refers to it as the first shootout in England.
Various competitions, including the FA Cup (until two seasons ago), continued using replays. It wasn’t until the 1990-91 season that the FA Cup introduced penalties if teams were level after extra time in a replay. After that IFAB decision in 1970, the shift was set in motion.
