100 bizarre football stories Part 1

Football, considered by many as a beautiful game, is marred by so many bizarre incidents that would leave you astonished for a long, long time. Lets take a look at some of these incidents.

100. One game wonder

David Moyes- A reckless decision maker

Everton manager David Moyes paid £5m for a Denmark international centre half in 2005 but very quickly decided Per Kroldrup wasn’t for him. Kroldroup played one game before being sold to Fiorentina.

99. Comeback costs gambler his house

As far as comebacks are concerned it was one of the greatest in the English Premiership. In 2001, Tottenham Hotspur were running rings around Manchester United having gone 3-0 up at half-time. Betting exchanges were the new thing while a Spurs fan who wanted to impress his girlfriend, confidently put his mortgage on a Spurs’ win in a short-odds wager- then sat back to make a fortune. The never-say-die attitude of United were on display as they powered back into the game to win 5-3.

98. Players go public on peeing activities

Peeing in a beer glass? Wait, thats not me!

Nightclubs strangely seem to bring on the urge for players to pee in public and often they don’t care about who might be watching. Chelsea‘s John Terry and West Ham’s Hayden Foxe were two such footballers who hit the headlines. The 2005 public peeing exploits of Terry, who was to become England captain, were filmed and went viral on the internet. He was seen urinating into a pint of glass at a nightclub bar. Foxe was remembered for an infamous incident at the Hammers in 2001 Christmas party when he was seen urinating on the dance floor of London’s Sugar Reef club.

97. Changing Sex – And Leagues

A player, who competed as a man for 25 years, won permission to play in an Australian women’s soccer league. Originally called Martin he became Martine in a 2005 sex-change operation and in 2007, the 47-year old human rights’ activist received the approval from Soccer Tasmania to play women’s soccer. Football Federation Australia said that if the player was legally classified as female, then she is qualified to compete in the women’s competition. She had scored six goals in women’s soccer before rival fans discovered her past and asked the state association for clarification.

96. Renowned striker in sex scandal

In 2008, Brazillian World Cup winning striker Ronaldo found himself in hot water over a scandal involving prostitutes. While recovering in his homeland after surgery, the then AC Milan player was caught up in a sex scandal with three prostitutes. After booking into a motel with them, Ronaldo said he discovered the hookers were actually men. Ronaldo alleged theft and extortion of $30,000 while one of the prostitutes counter-claimed that Ronaldo threatened him and used drugs, which the striker denied. A police chief said: “Ronaldo said he just wanted to amuse himself, that’s not a crime.”

95. Player gets three yellow cards

English referee Graham Poll announced his retirement from internationals after yellow-carding a player three times in a match . The ref, who had sent off players from both sides in a fiery match between Australia and Croatia, carded Josip Simunic twice but did not produce the mandatory red for a sending off. The crowd in Germany for the 2006 World Cup finals group match were incredulous. Poll did not realize his mistake until after the final whistle when he yellow-carded Simunic for a third time and finally produce the overdue red.

94. Short Ritual

Booby Moore and Martin Peters- Two of the best friends

Bobby Moore, England’s 1966 World Cup winning captain, insisted on being the last member to put his shorts on. However, as a joke team-mate Martin Peters would wait until Moore pulled his shorts on, then take his own off. Moore would respond by taking off his shorts and waiting until Peters had put his back on again. A bizarre ritual indeed!

93. Killer referee

A referee who thought he was under threat after awarding a yellow card, ended up shooting one man and injuring two others. In an incident during a match in 2004, coach Michael Sizani and players of the Marselle side playing the Mighty Elevens in the Eastern Cape district of South Africa, advanced to protest, but the referee, Ncedisile Zakhe, pulled a pistol and killed Sizani. Opposition coach Mbuzeli Ziqula and the Mighty Eleven player Zandisile George were hit on the hands by the same bullet. The ref fled the scene but was eventually caught and subsequently spent four years behind bars for culpable homicide and other offences.

92. Ten-minute job

Leroy Rosenior- Just plain unlucky!

Leroy Rosenior created a record by holding a manager’s job – for just ten minutes. He was re-appointed to Torquay United just as they were relegated from English football League, but minutes later the club was sold and the new owners wanted their own manager.

91. Game of three halves

An 1894 English league game was unique for having three halves. The Sunderland-Derby County match started with a deputizing referee and played 45 minutes. When the delayed ref finally turned up he ordered a full 90-minute game played. Over the 135 minutes Sunderland score 11 goals without reply!

Did you enjoy reading on these incidents? If yes, then stay tuned for more!

Excerpts from ’1001 bizarre football stories’ from Robert Lodge.