(Photo by Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images)
A drone caused an 11-minute delay during a Sky Bet League Two match on Monday, leaving the two teams in the English Football League’s lowest division with some mixed feelings about it as the game-winning goal came shortly after the incident.
Crawley Town came away with a 2-1 victory against Yeovil Town, with the match being tied when a drone was spotted flying over Huish Park stadium and caused the referee per protocol to take both teams off the field for safety reasons in the 80th minute. Substitute Thomas Verheydt ultimately put Crawley Town ahead in the 87th minute with a goal, with the team’s postgame recap noting, “The striker certainly hadn’t needed to leap as high as the drone to score.”
“We were poor, and I was getting frustrated because they knew exactly what I wanted to do, and the only time they actually did it was when the drone came,” Crawley Town manager Harry Kewell said of his players. “And then it probably worked in our favor in a way to have that break because I could speak to them, talk to them, get them under control and tell them to play football.”
Yeovil Town manager Darren Way, with his team already playing shorthanded in the second half due to two players being sent off, had a different reaction.
“They were in their dressing room for ten minutes and again, the referee has decided to make that decision and again, you feel that if it couldn’t get any worse, a drone some clown decides to drive into the stadium, so a big well done to him, whoever he is,” he told Somerset Live.
Yeovil Town in its postgame recap noted that the drone incident was “bizarre” and later released a statement regarding how it would continue to work with Avon & Somerset Police as the investigation continued involving security staff due to the safety concerns involved.
Drone incidents involving pro sports teams have begun to accumulate as the devices have grown in popularity among consumers. A drone crashed into the stands at Petco Park last season during a San Diego Padres game. Drones flying near practices held by the Atlanta Falcons before the Super Bowl and the Honduras men’s national soccer team before a World Cup playoff have raised concerns and suspicion of surveillance.
