<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="nl" dir="ltr">Nog nooit meegemaakt dit <a href="https://t.co/sGyixN0gFb">pic.twitter.com/sGyixN0gFb</a></p>— Harkemase Boys (@HarkemaseBoys) <a href="https://twitter.com/HarkemaseBoys/status/1132299172621631488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Some football teams gripe about playing against 12 men when a referee's decisions go against them but few have more cause for complaint that Dutch side Harkemase Boys, who were left fuming when a whistler scored against them on Saturday.
Footage of Maurice Paarhuis accidentally scoring for Hoek against Harkemase Boys has attracted almost five million views on Twitter (@HarkemaseBoys).
The referee told Dutch newspapers on Monday he had no option but to award the goal in the lower-league game.
"The ball hit my foot. I tried to get my leg out of the way but I couldn’t do it on time," said Paarhuis, who had a tough time explaining why the goal should stand to the home side.
"The players of Harkemase Boys were asking: ‘What’s happening here?’ But in these cases, the referee is a so-called ‘dead element’ and that means I had no option but to award a goal.”
In the end, the goal mattered little as Harkemase Boys ran out 4-2 winners, and while the game's laws dictated that the goal had to stand a change is being brought in next season.
The ball will be deemed out of play "... when it touches a match official, remains on the field of play and a team starts a promising attack, or the ball goes directly into the goal or the team in possession of the ball changes".
Play is to be restarted with a dropped ball.
Paarhuis says he sees the funny side of the incident and has been inundated with messages.
"My mobile is full of quips from people across the football world. You can believe some of them have approached me to become a striker for their team."
Paarhuis has been a referee since the age of 16 but also played at amateur level.
“It’s not my first goal, I got a couple as a player," he added. "But I hope that it is both my first and last as a referee.
