10) Adebayor’s mad dash towards Arsenal fans
Saying Emmanuel Adebayor is an unpopular player, is an understatement. He seems to have this uncanny ability to make people hate him, no matter where he goes or what he does. So it was quite unsurprising that after scoring against his former club Arsenal in 2009 while wearing Manchester City colours, he decided to run the length of the field to celebrate in front of the travelling Arsenal fans.
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Because what would make the fans who already hate you even angrier? That’s right, rubbing it in their face after scoring a goal.
Adebayor duly received a yellow card for his shenanigans and was charged with reckless behaviour by the FA. In the same match, he stamped on former teammate Robin van Persie, for which he received a three-game ban.
It’s like he had decided to be as unmanageable as possible for that particular day.
9) Luis Suarez diving in front of Moyes
Luis Suarez is controversy’s child, that is clear by now. But Suarez decided to show his funny side in the Merseyside Derby in October 2012, and the butt of the joke was Everton manager David Moyes.
Moyes’ pre-match comments about Suarez’s tendency to dive, which had earned Jack Rodwell a red card in the reverse fixture, seemed to have fired up the Uruguayan, who, after scoring an early goal, returned the favour to Moyes by diving in front of him. Luckily, the Liverpool striker escaped a booking.
Credit to David Moyes, though, who took the celebration in his stride and laughed it off.
Suarez, on the other hand, courted further controversy by treading on Sylvain Distin’s ankle late in the game. This time he was shown a yellow card.
8) Craig Bellamy’s imaginary golf club
In 2007, Craig Bellamy and John Arne Riise were involved in an altercation which ended with Bellamy hitting Riise with a golf club. Both players were reprimanded for their behaviour and banned by the club for six games.
Matter over, done and dusted with? Hardly.
Following their return from the ban, both Bellamy and Riise scored in Liverpool’s 2-1 over Barcelona in the Champions League. And with Bellamy around, entertainment can’t be far away.
An imaginary golf club in hand, Bellamy proceeded to celebrate in the most unusual style, to remind anyone who had forgotten, that he was the best jester in town.
7) Paul Gascoigne plays the flute, angers rival fans
There are some things that simply don’t belong on a football field. Mocking or inciting someone on the grounds of religion is right at the top of that list.
Paul “Gazza” Gascoigne was the best English player of his generation and one of the most popular, but the former England international landed himself in hot soup, courtesy his flute celebration in the Old Firm Derby (Rangers vs Celtic) of 1998.
To provide a bit of context, the flute is an instrument associated with the Orange Order marchers of Loyalism, which in Scotland refers to the group of people who protest the rise of Catholicism, one of the major sects of Scotland.
So when Gascoigne proceeded to play the flute in front of the Celtic fans, in reality, he was inciting the fans in a match that is usually marred with fan violence on grounds of religion.
No surprises then, when Gascoine was reprimanded by his club and the Scottish Football Association and fined £20,000. In the coming days, Gascoigne would receive death threats from the IRA; a reminder of how a seemingly harmless act can cause the biggest of problems.
6) Robbie Fowler’s political demonstration
This is Robbie Fowler’s first appearance on this list, but certainly not his last. In comparison to his most controversial celebration, this one is pretty minuscule.
In a UEFA Cup match against Brann Bergen in 1997, Fowler, after scoring a goal, proceeded to lift his shirt and reveal his support for the Liverpool dockers on strike.
As the rules laid out by UEFA clearly state, a football match cannot be used as a platform for political demonstrations, and Fowler was fined for breaching the rules.
5) Tim Cahill’s handcuff celebration
In January 2008, Sean Cahill, the brother of Everton midfielder Tim Cahill, was jailed for assaulting a man outside a nightclub in South London.
Although brother Tim could not attend the trial and sentencing, he wanted to show solidarity for his brother and chose a Premier League match against Portsmouth to send across his message.
After scoring a goal, Cahill proceeded to do the “handcuff”, in honour of his incarcerated sibling. Needless to say, Cahill faced a lot of criticism from all quarters and had to apologize for causing offense.
4) Mark Bosnich impersonates Adolf Hitler
Another one of those “What the hell were you thinking” moments. In a match between Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur, Villa and former Manchester United keeper Mark Bosnich celebrated by offering Tottenham fans, comprised mainly of Jews, an Adolf Hitler impersonation, an action that was met with widespread disgust and criticism and ended with Bosnich getting a £1,000 fine from the FA.
This is the same player who was caught outside a strip club on the morning of his wedding and the very same player that Chelsea sacked for testing positive for cocaine use.
If you ask me, Bosnich got off very lightly, considering the gravity of his offence.
3) Paolo Di Canio offers a Fascist salute to Lazio fans
Not to be outdone by Bosnich, ex-Lazio player and former Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio was caught offering the Fascist salute to Lazio fans on a number of occasions, most prominent being in a match against Juventus in 2005.
A self-confessed fascist, Di Canio associated himself with the left-wing politics of the Lazio fans. For his fascist salute, he was banned for one match and fined £7,000.
Di Canio later went on record to say, “I will always salute as I did because it gives me a sense of belonging to my people… I saluted my people with what for me is a sign of belonging to a group that holds true values, values of civility against the standardisation that this society imposes upon us.”
2) Robbie Fowler pretends to sniff cocaine!
Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler’s “Cocaine” celebration will probably be remembered as the most controversial.
In a Merseyside Derby, after scoring against Everton, Fowler proceeded to kneel down on all fours and pretended to snort cocaine off the touchline.
Apparently this was in response to Everton fans’ accusation that Fowler was using drugs. Whether that is true or not is debatable, but what is not debatable is the fact that the club did not appreciate his behaviour, and Fowler was fined £60,000 and slapped with a four-match ban.
A stupid celebration, and perhaps the only blot on an otherwise stellar career.
1) Chivas players offend entire nation with gun shooting celebration
Mexico is one of the worst affected countries as far as drug-related violence is concerned, with thousands of lives lost each year.
So when Chivas Guadalajara players Fabian de la Mora and Alberto Medina decided to celebrate de la Mora’s goal against Estudiantes in a match in 2011, they could have chosen to do any celebration in the world. Maybe a “heart” sign to show their love for the fans, or perhaps a jig and a shake on the sidelines.
Instead, the duo chose to do this:
A horrible, awful celebration and even if they tried they couldn’t have done much worse than this.The club swung into action and fined both the players 50,000 pesos and the players issued a heartfelt apology.
At the end of the day, football’s just a game. Not an excuse to spill out your prejudices or a platform to make a political statement.
