Remembering the Darren Bent “Beachball” incident, one of the Premier League’s most controversial moments

The year was 2009. Sunderland A.F.C were being managed by Steve Bruce and had an extremely successful start to the season. Having signed Darren Bent that summer, he would go on to score 24 goals which was the second highest tally ever netted by one SAFC player in one Premier League season (only behind Kevin Phillips).

That October, we welcomed Liverpool to the Stadium of Light. In the previous two seasons, SAFC had been beaten at home by the reds and been unable to score against them, but with the start we were having this time round, things certainly felt different.

And they were, just not in a way we were expecting. In this era, away supporters were located in the South Stand in front of the goal before they later tucked away at the top. This put them behind one of the goals, and arguably made the atmosphere a lot better. During the match, a 16 year old boy had brought with him an inflatable Liverpool beachball only for him to accidentally knock it onto the pitch in front of the goal, where Pepe Reina was playing.

Sunderland went on the attack and Darren Bent taken a direct shot in front of the goal. However, the ball bounced in front of the beachball and deflected it, catching Reina off guard and sending the ball in another direction, leading to a goal. Despite the protests of players, the referee refused to disallow the goal and the game continued, with it also going on to define the result at 1-0.

The incident soon ballooned (no pun intended) to become an enormous controversy which became one of the Premier League’s most memorable moments. Liverpool fans notably reacted with rage, with some of them going as far as publicly identifying the boy responsible and even sending him death threats, with one telling him they were going to “stab him”. The guilt unfairly made him, at 16, publicly apologise for the row. He described vomiting and being unable to eat.

What happened to the Beach Ball? Funnily enough it was not burst or discarded, but was somehow acquired by Manchester United fans and donated to the National Football Museum in Manchester, where it has been immortalised forever.