Dubious Goals Committee

The Dubious Goals Committee is a committee within the Premier League, the top level of association football in England, which adjudicates in any instance where the identity of the scorer of a goal is disputed.

The Committee meets on an ad hoc basis, whenever a disputed goal is brought to its attention. This is generally around three or four times each season.^[1]

Committee

The Committee is made up of three former football players or football officials. The identity of the Committee members at any given time is kept secret in order to protect Committee members from undue influence to make any particular decision. ^[1]

Role of the Committee

The role of the Committee is solely to determine the identity of the goal scorer to be entered into the separate official records of that player, his club, and the league. It will therefore be noted that the Committee does not enquire into:

• whether a goal has been scored. This is a matter for the officials attending the match in question.
• assists. These are attributed to players by their clubs.

There is no comparable body for other football leagues in the United Kingdom. In all other football matches in the United Kingdom, the identity of the goalscorer is determined by the club that scored the goal.

Adjudication process

The adjudication process comprises the viewing of video evidence followed by discussion by the Committee members. The guiding principle when adjudicating is as follows:

"As a rule, if the initial attempt is goalbound it is credited to the player making the goal attempt. However if the deflection means that a wayward effort results in a goal then it is attributed to the player who had the last definitive touch of the ball." ^[1]

Selected decisions

• Stephen Clemence (o.g.) rather than Robin van Persie in Arsenal's 1–0 win over Birmingham City on 2 October 2005.
• Zurab Khizanishvili (o.g) replaces Joe Cole in Chelsea's 4–2 win over Blackburn Rovers on 29 October 2005.
• Peter Crouch scored first goal for Liverpool against Wigan Athletic on 3 December 2005, as opposed to Mike Pollitt (o.g).
• Carlos Bocanegra (o.g) replaces Park Ji-Sung in Manchester United's 4–2 win over Fulham on 4 February 2006.
• Nani replaces Manuel Almunia (o.g.) in Manchester United's 3-1 win against Arsenal.
• Anton Ferdinand (o.g.) rather than Dimitar Berbatov in Sunderlands 0-2 loss at Manchester United.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} Ingle, Sean; Glendenning, Barry; Dart, James (23 August 2006). "Is there really a Dubious Goals Committee?". The Knowledge. The Guardian. http://football.guardian.co.uk/theknowledge/story/0,,1855736,00.html. Retrieved 2010-05-28.