I am sure we all remember Mr Sinclair's desperate, but fortunately ultimately futile, efforts to wriggle out of an FA Trophy defeat a few years ago (an event which led me to think that the BBC should add an award to SPOTY for the sporting t**t of the year).
On Saturday there were tragic echoes of this incident which suggest that the FA has learned nowt from the above incident.
Brief facts
1. F A Vase last 64 87 minutes gone Gorleston 0 Basildon 1
2. Gorleston goalkeeper's father in law collapses
3. Air ambulance called and lands on pitch
4. Father in law tragically dies at the scene and match abandoned out of respect
5. FA asks Gorleston if they would like to withdraw from the Vase (I think the implication is that the anticipated answer was "yes")
6. Gorleston speak to the goalkeeper / deceased's family and they say "we want to replay the match".
7. Basildon at that point withdraw from the Vase, giving Gorleston a bye to the last 32.
Apart from wondering why the FA didn't respond to our situation by making a rule that either the result of a match abandoned after (say) 75 minutes stands or the remaining time is played at a later date (actually I know, because the FA is a dysfunctional organisation - witness their response to child abuse issues), I am scratching my head wondering what the just solution to this is, because the current one seems wholly unsatisfactory. Anyone care to do their King Solomon bit?