Twenty-four years ago, at the Mahamasina Municipal Stadium in Antananarivo, Madagascar, thousands of people took their seats in the stands expecting a normal city derby between AS Adema and SO de l’Emyrne. The only one to experience the match from a “professional” point of view was the referee Benjamina Razafintsalama, who in the ninetieth minute decreed the end of the “hostilities” of the match which ended 149-0 for the hosts. The number of goals on that 31 October 2002, it is more correct to speak of an own goal by the guests, rightfully entered the match into the Guinness World Records as the match with the most goals scored in the history of football.
The Malagasy derby that entered football history
According to many, the real protagonist of the story is the referee Benjamina Razafintsalama. To understand the relevance of the latter’s figure, we need to rewind the tape to two days before the match. 48 hours before the last day of the championship in which they could have played for the title with their direct rival, Emyrne drew against DSA Antananarivo. However, the 2-2 goal came from a hotly contested penalty in the last minute. Coach Zaka Be and his players feel they have been robbed. For them, the championship had just been robbed by “unbalanced” refereeing. And that day, that referee was Razafintsalama himself.
When, a few days later, the same referee was appointed for the derby with Adema, Zaka Be and his boys immediately understood that that match would not be normal. And indeed, just a few minutes after kick-off, some dubious decisions from the referee confirmed their fears. Fearing another wrong, they decide to take matters into their own hands in their own way…
The protest of the visiting team which led the club to bankruptcy
Zaka Be’s idea was crazy as well as unusual: every time his team won the ball, instead of attacking, they directed it towards their own goal. Own goal after own goal. Then they brought him back to midfield, waited for the referee’s whistle and started again. So 149 times, until the ninetieth minute. Razafintsalama, unperturbed, wrote everything down in his notebook, turning the match into an incredible record of own goals.
In the audience, some couldn’t believe their eyes: spectators asking for a refund, others screaming at the absurdity of the scene they were witnessing. Meanwhile, the record score not only marked the most goals in a match, but also set the new record for the difference between two teams, beating the 36-0 of the Scottish Arbroath against the Bon Accord of Aberdeen way back in 1885. At the final whistle, the Malagasy federation intervened harshly: Zaka Be was banned for three years, some players suspended for several months and the club was banned for ten years from each competition. Disqualification that will lead to the club’s bankruptcy in 2006.
