Abandoned Fixtures
Played on a quagmire of a Goodison pitch, on 37 minutes and with Everton leading due to John Bell’s goal, the referee gathered the players and it was decided to abandon the match. Everton won the replayed game 3-0 six weeks later.
Everton’s first fixture with Arsenal – although never completed – was arguably its most significant. Played in the Gunners’ former south London home, Everton had gone into a seemingly unassailable 3-1 lead when the referee, influenced by the Arsenal captain Jimmy Jackson, decided that the thick swirling fog was too much and abandoned the game with 20 minutes remaining. Although irritating at the time, few could have guessed the full consequences of his actions. When the game was replayed the following April, a fixture build-up caused by Everton’s FA Cup run left them needing to play three away games in four days. It proved a challenge too much: Woolwich Arsenal won the replayed game 2-1 and Everton missed out on the title by a single point.
Arctic conditions led to the FA Cup tie’s abandonment after 50 minutes with the scores level at 1-1; Everton won the replay 5-1.
Just as Everton effectively lost the title in 1905 after their notorious abandoned game v Woolwich Arsenal, so the weather favoured them a decade later. They were 3-0 down when a snowstorm whipped in over the Pennines, forcing the referee finally to call a halt to proceedings. In the replayed game in mid-April Everton won 2-1 and twelve days later lifted the title by a single point.
With Everton leading 1-0 with 12 minutes of the second half played, proceedings were ended because of stormy conditions. Everton won the rematch 4-1.
The breakdown of a nearby electricity substation caused the floodlights to fail after 30 minutes with the match goalless. The referee waited nearly 50 minutes before abandoning the game; Everton won the replayed match 1-0 the following March.
A game notorious for a horrific broken leg suffered by Peter Reid, following a collision with Everton goalkeeper George Wood, was played on a virtual ice rink and called off at half-time with the scores level at 1-1. Bolton won the rematch 3-1 in April.
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