JB

On 3 October 1970, reigning league champions Everton arrived at Highfield Road to face Coventry City. Nearly 30,000 people were there, but nobody could have known they were about to witness one of the strangest free-kicks in English football history. With City leading 2-1 late in the game, Coventry were awarded a free-kick just outside the Everton penalty area. Willie Carr stood over the ball, but instead of simply kicking it, he trapped it between his heels and somehow flicked it backwards into the air. Waiting behind him was Ernie Hunt, who absolutely leathered it on the volley over the Everton wall and into the net. Coventry won 3-1, with Hunt scoring twice. Luckily, the cameras were there. The match appeared on BBC's Match of the Day, the goal became famous across the country and it went on to win Goal of the Season. There was just one problem. Football's authorities subsequently decided Carr's manoeuvre shouldn't be allowed. The technique was outlawed because squeezing and flicking the ball between both feet was deemed to involve touching the ball twice. So Coventry didn't just score one of football's most famous free-kicks. We basically scored a goal so ridiculous they had to make sure nobody could do it again. 😂 And anyone who stood on the terraces at Highfield Road that afternoon has had 56 years of bragging rights. Were you there for the donkey kick? Or what's the greatest Coventry City goal you've ever seen in person? 👇