Nov 1, 20225 min read

BARBADOS 4-2 GRENADA: The short-lived 'goals count double' extra-time rule

Updated: Oct 28, 2023

Here's a piece I wrote for DOTTED.MAG, issue 3 - named Motherland - in November 2022.

'THE PERSON WHO CAME UP WITH THESE RULES MUST BE A CANDIDATE FOR A MADHOUSE....'

Golden goal, silver goal, away goals, MLS 90's penalties and plenty more methods have been introduced to football over the years in an attempt to add a new layer of excitement or jeopardy to the game.

In truth, football has done pretty well without any of these intrusions but perhaps one of the most interesting and ill-perceived ideas came to a head in January 1994. Barbados was hosting Grenada in a game that made a mockery of a so-called innovative new idea and created a truly unique scenario.

To try and make the qualification for the 1994 Caribbean Cup (sponsored by Shell, and ultimately won by Trinidad and Tobago) more interesting, a few new rules were introduced. These were:

No game could end as a draw
If after 90 minutes the game remained level, a period of extra time would commence
During extra-time the golden goal rule was in place
If a goal was scored in extra-time, not only would it immediately win the game, but it would also be worth two goals
Finally, if there were no goals in extra- time, the game would be settled with a penalty shootout

So, this meant that if a team won 1-0 in normal time, it would not be worth as much as winning 1-0 but scoring the goal in the extra period. The natural instinct of all players would always be to win the game that was in front of them and not tempt fate by allowing a game to remain level, to allow it to enter extra-time.

However, as is the case with the end of any season or group stage competition, when it gets to the concluding games there are always a variety of mathematical solutions to solve how each team can or can't win or survive relegation. In what was probably just an interesting, yet clearly not fully thought through, idea by the competition organisers - it all ended in a moment of clever calculations to solve a qualification quandary.

Barbados were hosting Grenada and knew that they needed a win by two or more goals to ensure that they qualified from their group. The favourites and hosts of the game had a task on their hands but stepped up to the plate and were leading the game 2-0 with less than 10 minutes of the match remaining....

What happened next? You guessed it, Grenada provided a sucker punch goal that put them top of the group and had the Barbadians on the cusp of a disaster. Presumably a member of the coaching staff had their abacus, fingers and toes, maybe even a calculator to hand and worked out a way in which they could get back into the game and into the illustrious sixth edition of the Caribbean Cup.

Instead of trying to win by two goals in the final minutes of the 90, the order was given for the Barbados players to score an own goal. This way they had the extra period to score just one goal and it would count double, as per the tournament rules and thus a better chance of the desired two- goal victory for qualification. It was certainly some ingenious thinking, and it would remove any stress of again having to hold onto a lead that they had so recently let slip.

With three minutes to go, goalkeeper (the former Livingston man) Horace Stoute began casually passing the ball with defender Terry Sealey. Why wouldn't the Grenadians stand back and allow this, they were minutes away from qualifying as group winners and so allowed the strange behaviour to continue and watched the clock wind down.

The own goal order was then fulfilled and Sealey smashed the ball into the back of his own net. 2-2, extra-time and the chance for Barbadian redemption had been presented thanks to an own goal from their own centre-back and the quick thinking of everyone involved.

It can of course be seen as poor sportsmanship by completing such an act but who is really to blame here, Barbados or the organisers of the competition?

There's a reason this game is remembered so many years later and will probably always remain as a reminder to not mess with the rules that have served the game so well, for so many years.

Back to the eastern Caribbean Island, Grenada had now realised that they could score a goal in either net themselves and the game would not enter extra-time and nor would Barbados have their two-goal lead (just as you were thinking the Grenadians were the moral winners here). Their remit was now to score a goal at either end of the pitch and end all this madness. You can only imagine the hilarity and absurdity of watching one team defend both goals, whilst the others tried to score at either end themselves.

In what is one of the hardest to believe aspects of this whole unbelievable tale, Grenada couldn't score a goal of any kind for three whole minutes. In a game that has a painfully small amount of video footage, this would have been a period of football that is almost certainly completely unique.

The thought of any tournament organiser being present for the affair is equally as ludicrous. Surely anyone who had created the rules that had led to a moment like this, would have wanted the floor to swallow them up as they watched their genius idea ruin what should have been a great game of football. Thankfully for them and everyone except the Grenadians, the 90 minutes ended at 2-2 and a football match could soon start again.

Barbados were buoyed by finding a loophole in the rules, scoring their own goal, and then protecting both nets - all for this period of extra time. With the home fans on side and the lure of a place in the Caribbean Cup waiting, they went for the jugular and tried to win the game as quickly as they could. After just four minutes, they got what they wanted, and Trevor Thorne's driven left-footed shot found its way into the back of the net.

Golden goal and full-time. 3-2 became 4-2 thanks to the goal counting double and there ended one of the most baffling games to have ever been played.

Grenada were confused and out. Barbados were devious and through, their reward was winless participation in the 1994 competition. It was not worth the drama for their ultimate reward but the way in which they made a mockery of the ridiculously conceived rules ensured it would never happen again. It was a strategy that would have been replicated elsewhere, Barbados were possibly just the unlucky bad guys of a terrible rule.

It's certainly a story from Caribbean football that will never be forgotten and is perhaps best concluded with the words of James Clarkson, the Grenadian manager: "The person who came up with these rules must be a candidate for a madhouse".