Kilmacud Crokes are at the centre of a storm this week in the wake of their All-Ireland Club Football Championship success over Derry side Glen on Sunday.
The Stillorgan-based side finished the final at Croke Park with 16 players on the pitch, as they defended a Glen free-kick and a two-point advantage in the closing seconds.
But as the GAA ponders their response to the controversy, Kilmacud aren’t the first side in recent times to end a match with an illegal numerical advantage.
In the 11-a-side game, Bayern Munich and world champions Argentina have become embroiled in rows over the fielding of an extra player.
And it has happened also in other sports, such as a recent Hockey World Cup clash between Japan and South Korea.
Last December’s World Cup final between Argentina and France led to some heated debate, after French publication L’Equipe called for Lionel Messi’s second goal to be struck off.
As Messi finished from close-range in extra-time, to fire the South Americans into a 3-2 lead, two substitutes had strayed a yard or two onto the pitch in anticipation of the goal.
They weren’t spotted by any of the on-field officials and their presence was either not spotted or ignored by VAR.
However, L’Equipe cited Law 3, Paragraph 9 of the Laws of the Game, which ruled that play should have been restarted with a direct free-kick “from the position of the extra person.”
There was no chance of retrospective action, however, as neither substitute was deemed to be interfering with play.
France went on to equalise again through Kylian Mbappe, before losing on penalties.
In another incident last year, Bayern Munich’s 4-1 thumping of Freiburg appeared briefly to be in danger of being overturned.
The German giants had 12 players on the pitch for almost 20 seconds, due to a mix-up over a double-substitution in the 86th minute.
Kingsley Coman was one of the players due to come off, but an error by the Bayern team manager meant that his old number, 29, was displayed on the electronic board.
Wearing number 11, the France international remained on the pitch as the referee allowed play to resume.
A Freiburg player alerted ref Christian Dingert to the discrepancy and the game was held up for several minutes before things were sorted out.
Freiburg, although well beaten at that stage, protested the result.
The German Football Association’s (DFB) sports court threw out their case, stating that it was down to a refereeing error rather than an effort by Bayern to gain an unfair advantage.
In other sports, the Men’s Hockey World Cup was thrown into chaos last week when Japan finished their clash with South Korea with an extra player.
It didn’t affect the outcome of the match, with Japan losing, but it could yet result in a punishment for fielding a 12th man.
And in December 2021, American Football high school side Lutheran St. Charles had 12 players on the field - one too many - when they scored a winning touchdown against Lamar.
Despite the discrepancy, the result stood.
Kilmacud Crokes will no doubt be hoping for a similar outcome to Sunday’s controversy.
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