A replay (also called a rematch) is the repetition of a match in many sports.
Association football
In
association football, replays were often used to decide the winner in a knock-out tournament when the previous match ended in a draw, especially in finals. In 1970,
FIFA (the worldwide governing body of the sport) and
IFAB (the international rules committee for the sport) allowed
penalty shoot-outs to be held if a match ended in a draw after
extra time. The penalty shootout made its appearance immediately thereafter. The first instance of a shootout replacing a replay (rather than lots) was the final of the
1976 European championship. The shootout's first use at the
World Cup took place in the 1982 semi-finals. Replays are now only used in the early rounds of the English
FA Cup tournament, as well as rounds up until the semi-finals in the
Scottish Cup. Games going to replays in the FA Cup since
1991 are only replayed once, with extra time and penalty shootouts used to decide the tie if the replay ends in a draw. Historically, FA Cup games would be replayed as many times as necessary until one team managed to win - in
1971, a fourth qualifying round match between
Alvechurch and
Oxford City was replayed five times after the initial match ended 2-2, with Alvechurch winning 1-0 in the fifth replay to settle the tie.[1]
Replays can sometimes also take place on occasion if a team has fielded an ineligible player in the original match,[2] or if a player has been injured as a result of an action by a spectator (such as throwing a coin or a bottle).[3] However, more common consequences for such actions include awarding victory to non-offending teams and/or deducting points from offending teams.
Baseball
Until 2007, in the rare event that a
Major League Baseball game ended in a tie, it was replayed if necessary to decide postseason advancement. Tied games counted in statistical records, but not counted in a team's win-loss percentage. Since 2007, tied games that must be abandoned for whatever reason are resumed (if feasible and/or necessary) from the point of suspension, as opposed to being replayed in full.
Until the
2020 Major League Baseball season, it was possible for teams to
protest games, usually if the manager believed his team was negatively impacted by a consequential umpiring decision that violated MLB rules. If the protest was upheld, the game would be replayed from the "point-of-protest" at a later date. In total, 15 MLB games were partially replayed under this rule, the last such occurrence happening in 2014. Most upheld protests were in the
National League. The only case where the
American League upheld a protest and ordered a replay was after the famous
Pine Tar Incident in 1983. The rule was abolished after the 2019 MLB season, so protests and ensuing replays are no longer possible.
Boxing
In boxing, rematches (referred to as "rematch" and not "replay", or simply by the match-up followed by a
Roman numeral, as in
Holyfield vs. Tyson II) are common and expected, producing historically significant moments in the sport. Examples include:
The
National Football League has a clause in its rules that allows the
commissioner to order a whole or partial replay of a game that has been corrupted by an "
extraordinary act." For a partial replay, the game is reset to the point immediately before the play in which the act took place, with all game parameters (time, score, ball position and possession) set to where they were at that point. A full replay discards the result of the previous game altogether and restarts the game from its beginning.
As of 2024, the NFL has never used its extraordinary act clause. The rulebook states that the authority is only to be used in the event that "any club action, non-participant interference, or calamity occurs in an NFL game which the Commissioner deems so extraordinarily unfair or outside the accepted tactics encountered in professional football that such action has a major effect on the result of the game."[9] Former commissioner
Pete Rozelle refused on principle to use the provisions, notably after the notorious
Snowplow Game.[10] Under commissioner
Roger Goodell, the league also opposes using the power, mainly because of the
domino effect it could have on the rest of the schedule and the financial ramifications that would result.[11] When this situation occurred in the aftermath of
Damar Hamlin's on-field collapse in January 2023, it was decided instead to create an alternate playoff path for both the
Buffalo Bills and
Cincinnati Bengals, rather than replay the game.
Notable replayed games
The
1909 Scottish Cup Final resulted in a 2-2 draw between
Celtic F.C. and
Rangers F.C. When the replay resulted in a 1-1 draw, a riot ensued after the crowd learned extra time would not be played. As a result, a second replay was not held and the trophy was not awarded.
The
1932 NFL Playoff Game can be seen as a replay, since the two teams had tied earlier in the year and the extra game was needed to decide the league championship.
A 1972
Louisiana High School Athletic Association Class AAAA football semifinal playoff between
MonroeNeville and host
New OrleansBrother Martin was replayed four days later after the game ended scoreless and both teams had the same number of first downs and penetrations inside the opponent's 20-yard line. Since there was no overtime provision in the
National Federation of State High School Associations rules at the time (except in
Kansas), the commissioner of the LHSAA ordered a new game after the suggestion to use a
coin toss to determine the winner was vehemently rejected by both coaches. Neville won the replay, contested in a driving rain at
Alexandria 8-0, and went on to defeat
Bossier City Airline three days later for the state championship.
The
1991 UAAP men's basketball championship between the
De La Salle Green Archers and the
FEU Tamaraws ended with FEU winning the game by
forfeit; the original game ended La Salle winning 80–77. It was then ordered into a replay after FEU put the game under protest as a La Salle player did not immediately leave the game after fouling out. La Salle did not attend the replayed game, and FEU was awarded the championship by forfeit.
The
1948 VFL Grand Final between
Essendon and
Melbourne was drawn 10.9 69 to 7.27 69, and the replay was comfortably won by Melbourne 13.11 89 to 7.8 50.
The
2010 AFL Grand Final between
Collingwood and
St Kilda ended in a 9.14 68 to 10.8 68 draw, and was replayed the following week, with
Collingwood taking the Premiership by winning 16.12 108 to 7.10 52. This would prove to be the last replayed AFL Grand Final, as from the 2016 season forward the league abolished Grand Final replays in favour of the use of two 5-minute overtime periods. If a Grand Final is tied at the end of the second overtime period, the siren that ends play will not be sounded until the next score by either team.
Game 6 of the
2010 Japan Series between the
Chunichi Dragons and the
Chiba Lotte Marines ended tied 2-2 after 15 innings (in the longest game in the league's history: 5 hours, 43 minutes), and was replayed the following day with the Marines winning the game 8-7 and claiming the league championship 4 games to 2 (with 1 tie).
In
Gaelic games, the final matches of the All-Ireland championships in each individual sport are decided by replays in the event of a draw. As in the AFL before 2016, extra time is used only if the replay is also drawn at the end of regulation. The most recent replay in the top-level finals of each Gaelic sport was:
Men's football: In
2016,
Dublin defeated
Mayo 1–15 to 1–14 (18 points to 17) after the teams finished the original match level at 15 points (Dublin 2–9, Mayo 0–15).
Hurling: In
2013,
Clare defeated
Cork 5-16 to 3-16 (31 points to 25) after the teams finished the original match level at 25 points (Cork 3-16, Clare 0-25).
Ladies' football: In
1998,
Waterford defeated
Monaghan 2–14 to 3–8 (20 points to 17) after the teams finished the original match level at 19 points (Monaghan 4–7, Waterford 1–16).
Camogie (women): In
1981,
Kilkenny defeated Cork 1–9 to 0–7 (12 points to 7) after the teams finished the original match level at 18 points (3–9 each).
In the
1991 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the
Dublin–
Meath game required four matches for a winner to be found: the first game was a draw; the second was tied, and still tied after extra time; the third game was also drawn, and drawn after extra time; Meath won the fourth game.[12]
In the
1925 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the
Roscommon–
Sligo game required six matches for a winner to be found: Roscommon won the first game, but the result was overturned on an objection; the first three replays were all draws; Roscommon won the fourth replay, but the result was again overturned on an objection; and Sligo won the fifth replay.[13][14][15]