When outfield players become goalkeepers Part I

Whenever this rare occurrence happens, football fan’s inner child comes out. After the initial laughter has subsided, they rub their hands with glee at the prospect of seeing a player looking so out of his depth between the sticks.

This unusual situation doesn’t happen so much these days as seven substitutes are allowed to be named in most competitions.
There is still a maximum of three substitutes allowed to be brought on though. If something then happens to the goalkeeper, whether he is sent off or injured, an outfield player has to take his place.

There is definitely something that makes even the most sensible of people enjoy seeing an outfielder in goal. It is comical to see the player look so utterly lost, like a fish out of water. Some outfield players surprise the fans who are expecting them to cconcede a hatful of goals past them and turn out to be quite good in goal!

When the outfielder has to go in goal, he has to wear a goalkeeper’s jersey and having seen him in an outfield shirt for years, it’s so odd seeing him in a goalkeeper’s shirt.

I suppose it’s a bit like seeing your school teacher out in the shops when you are on your school holidays. You are so used to seeing them in their smart clothes and in a classroom, so when you see them out in the community in jeans and a t-shirt, your brain can’t quite get used to seeing them in an alien setting and in ‘normal clothes’!

There have been many occasions over the years where a goalkeeper has had to leave the field of play and for whatever reason, they’ve had to be replaced by a team mate from out on the pitch. I have listed a few of the more memorable occasions that this has happened below:

Eddie Hapgood (Arsenal) vs Everton 16th March 1935
Arsenal goalkeeper Frank Moss badly dislocated his shoulder in this League match at Goodison Park. Following the nasty injury, Arsenal defender Eddie Hapgood took over in goal whilst Moss was treated in the visitor’s dressing room.
It wasn’t the first time that Hapgood deputised for Moss, he had also done so fifteen months before in a league match at Sheffield United. That time, poor Frank Moss had dislocated his fingers whilst keeping the Arsenal goal.

Moss surprised everyone in the ground by coming out for the secon d half wearing an outfield shirt. He had his arm strapped to his side and played out on the left wing whilst Hapgood continued to deputise for him in goal.

If the fans were surprised to see him playing, they would have been shocked when he scored in the 70th minute, latching on to a pass from team-mate Ted Drake.
Eddie Hapgood was performing heroics in the Arsenal goal, making several great saves and Arsenal won the game 2-0!
Sadly for Frank Moss, the injury caused him to retire from the game following a second dislocation of the same shoulder.

Neil McBain (New Brighton) vs Hartlepool United, March 1947
New Brighton were suffering from a bit of a goalkeeping crisis in March 1947. Manager Neil McBain was struggling to find someone to cover for their league match with Hartlepool United, so he decided to name himself as the goalkeeper!
By choosing himself to play in the game, McBain became the oldest player to play in a Football League match. He was 51 years and 120 days old!

McBain was a half-back by trade, most notably for Manchester United, Everton and Liverpool amongst others. This made his decision to pick himself as the team’s goalkeeper all the more strange!

Jackie Blanchflower (Manchester United) vs Aston Villa, FA Cup Final 1957
Six minutes of the 1957 FA Cup Final between League Champions Manchester United and Aston Villa had passed when Peter McParland shoulder-barged United keeper Ray Wood.
Wood was badly concussed and left with a broken left cheekbone and was taken off the field on a stretcher. He returned to play out on the right wing as substitutes were still not allowed at the time.
Manchester United were chasing the League and Cup Double but Villa won the Cup Final 2-1, McParland scoring twice. Nine months later, eight of the players passed away in an air crash.

Martin Peters (West Ham United) vs Cardiff City, 23rd April 1962
The Easter weekend of 1962 was a busy one in the First Division. West Ham United played at home to Cardiff City on Good Friday, away to Arsenal on Easter Sunday before the return match at Cardiff on the Easter Monday.

Martin Peters had made his first-team debut for The Hammers on Good Friday and kept his place in the side for the trip to Highbury.
In the third match in four days, West Ham’s goalkeeper Brian Rhodes got injured at Cardiff City on the Easter Monday. Martin Peters stepped in but couldn’t prevent the home side winning the game 3-0.

Peters passed away on 21st December 2019 and I wrote an obituary for him on this blog. It can be found here.

Pele (Santos) vs Gremio, 19th January 1964
Pele scored 1,281 goals in his illustrious career, with three of them coming in this 4-3 win over Gremio in the semi-final second leg of the Campeonato Brasileiro.
The story of the match is similar to something that you would read in a comic book as Santos’ goalkeeper Gilmar was sent off. Hat-trick hero Pele took over in goal and managed to keep a clean sheet!

The second part of this article will follow tomorrow!

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