Martyn Kelly remembers wishing he had a stool to stand on, like the other children in the stands, to get a better view. The world's first official penalty was not something he wanted obscured from other people's heads. On a warm evening on 5 August 1970 at Hull's Boothferry Park, a star-studded Manchester United reached the end of extra time tied 1-1 with second division Hull City in a cup match. Six weeks earlier, soccer legislators had decided to end coin tosses to decide winners, in favor of five players from each team taking an 11-meter penalty against only the goalkeeper. 'Damn,' thought young Hull City fan, eleven-year-old Kelly. "It's George Best, one of the greatest players ever. He's about to take the first penalty in the first penalty in the history of the world." That was a thing to see. No one knew yet that this new method of deciding a tied football match would become a harrowing experience that some fans, players and coaches struggle to watch. The Watney Cup was a pre-season competition from 1970 to 1973 fielding the highest ranked teams from the top four divisions (with some exceptions). Prior to this, cup or knockout matches that ended in draws were resolved by replays, draws or coin tosses. At the 1968 European Championship, Italy reached the final after correctly guessing heads or tails following a 0-0 draw against the Soviet Union. The final against Yugoslavia also ended 1-1 and Italy won 2-0 two days later when the teams played again. For those who weren't fans of existing methods for breaking the balance, the straw that broke the camel's back came four months later. When Israel's captain pulled a piece of paper reading 'no' from a large sombrero that determined his team had lost the 1968 Olympic quarter-final to Bulgaria after a 1-1 draw, some within his country's football federation were furious. Israel Football Federation official Yosef Dagan stated that there had to be a better way to decide these important moments – or at least one that was, theoretically, less about luck and more about skill. Dagan and Michael Almog, who later became the head of the Israel Football Federation, developed the idea of a penalty before writing an official proposal to Fifa in 1969. This was published in the governing body's official magazine. In the letter, Almog proposed "to stop this way of deciding the winner by drawing lots, a system that is immoral and even cruel for the losing team and not honorable for the winner." He asked to replace it with a five-kick penalty for each team. If the teams remained tied after that, the system would continue until one team made a mistake and the other scored. The proposal was widely debated before it was finally adopted by football's lawmakers, the International Game Board (Ifab), at its general meeting in Inverness on 27 June 1970. As well as draws, coin tosses and replays, other ways of resolving ties had existed over the years, including sharing titles or counting corners, and there had also been versions of penalties in some domestic and smaller competitions. When BBC Sport asked Fifa to confirm whether the Watney Cup penalty was the first official penalty, world football's governing body responded that it has "no record to confirm or deny the claim". However, the National Football Museum refers to this as the first penalty in England. Several competitions, including full stages of the FA Cup as recently as two seasons ago, continued to use replays. It was not until the 1990–91 season that the FA Cup introduced penalties if teams were level after extra time in a replay. After that Ifab decision in 1970, it wasn't long before the first opportunity arose to see a penalty used to decide a professional football match. Would the coin flip's successor be less cruel? That evening in Hull, in the Watney Cup - a pre-season cup competition - he would provide some answers. Ian Butler scored Hull City's second penalty. "I couldn't believe it, my beloved Hull City were up against Georgie Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law. It's like having Messi, Ronaldo and Mbappé in the same team," Kelly recalled on the BBC's Sporting Witness programme. Former Hull City player Frankie Banks said: "It was a huge game, playing against Manchester United, who had won the European Cup two years earlier. The atmosphere was electrifying. The Man United players were our heroes. On paper we had no chance. We wanted to win, we wanted to show everyone that, although they were probably the best team in the world, we could face them." And indeed they did, taking the lead in the 11th minute through Chris Chilton before Law equalized for United in the 78th, taking the match into extra time. With overtime winding down, the players realized they were about to be part of something historic. "[Hull player-manager] Terry Neill obviously asked for volunteers and some lads were reluctant to come forward to take penalties and some were brave enough to say 'I'll take it, I'll take it and I'll take it'," said Banks, who wasn't in the line-up that day but was present at the match. “No one wants to be the one who does it wrong.” And, in particular, no one wants to be the first player to miss a penalty. However, Best was happy to be the first to score, sending his right-footed shot low into the left corner. For Hull City, Neill became the first player-manager to score in a penalty, keeping the scores level at 3–3. "It was still an open game and the noise was deafening," Banks said. But then, in a moment that countless great names would experience over the decades, Law saw his low shot saved by a diving Ian McKechnie. “Forever and ever, Law will be considered the first man to miss a penalty and McKechnie will be considered the first goalkeeper to save a penalty in a penalty,” Banks said. Ken Wagstaff then missed for Hull and so when Willie Morgan scored for United, Hull knew they had to convert their last shot. And that's when McKechnie became the first goalkeeper to kick a penalty in a penalty shootout. “Please, not him,” Kelly remembers thinking. "I couldn't believe it, my mother couldn't believe it, not even Alex Stepney, the Man United goalkeeper, could believe it and asked him what he was doing there. I had my head in my hands!" McKechnie approached and fired a powerful shot... against the upper side of the crossbar. And with that, he became the first goalkeeper to miss a penalty in a penalty shootout. "I still maintain that Ian McKechnie was the right choice – he had a nice left foot – and he had the courage to do it. I would have put money on him to score," Banks said. “Missing that penalty stayed with Ian for the rest of his life.” Of course, there have been many Laws and McKechnies since then. In fact, statisticians say that 24% of penalties in shootouts are missed. They have decided some of the biggest competitions, with the World Cup final going to penalties three times – in 1994, 2006 and 2022. The first major international title to be decided on penalties was the 1976 European Championship – with the winning shot being the famously daring lob that goes by the name of Antonin Panenka. Over the years, England's men have experienced plenty of penalty shoot-out misery, losing seven times this way in major tournaments. Two days ago, Wales' dreams of playing in this year's World Cup were dashed by Bosnia-Herzegovina in the now familiar emotional rollercoaster of a penalty. But before that night in Hull, no one knew what to expect. Ten penalties later, they knew it. “Every shot was agony,” Kelly said. And more than six decades later, this is still true.