100 bizarre football stories – Part 5
Hot-head Duncan!
A thief was unaware of the fearsome reputation of Everton striker Duncan Ferguson in 2001. Fiery Ferguson caught a burglar trying to make off with CDs and champagne from the Scottish international’s home near Liverpool. ‘Big Dunc’– 6 feet 4 inches – sat on him until police arrived. But still the underworld didn’t learn, because two years later, another burglar who Ferguson caught in the act, needed hospital treatment. The raider tried to press an assault charge against Ferguson, but failed and got himself a four-year prison sentence in the bargain.
A brewery’s offer of a lifetime’s supply of free beer to the first Austrian to score in Euro 2008 tournament did not produce an avalanche of goals. Instead, it was Ivica Vastic who won the prize by notching the country’s only goal of the competition – a 93rd minute penalty.
The north-west of England has not always been the best place for footballers to settle. Audacious thieves have targeted a dozen stars’ homes often while the victims have been away playing or training. Among the high-profile victims have been Liverpool players Jermaine Pennant, Jerzy Dudek, Pepe Reina, Lucas Leiva and Peter Crouch, and Andy van der Meyde of Everton. The thieves’ swag included an Olympic bronze medal, cars, TVs, jewellery and watches, and even a puppy. Police recovered many items because club fans, angry at the treatment of their heroes, rang the cops with vital information.
Gabriel Obertan – better off as a gardener?
£20,000-a-week winger Gabriel Obertan pruned rose bushes at Manchester United’s training ground while recovering from a back injury in 2009.
In three successive seasons, between 1955-58, Leeds United were drawn against Cardiff City in third round of English FA Cup and lost by the same score, 2-1, ever time.
A natty piece of wing play was a feature of wedding of former Manchester United and England defender Wes Brown and fiancée Leanne Wassel. In a scene straight out of a Harry Potter book, an owl delivered the couple’s rings. Ollie the barn owl swooped over guests at the 2009 wedding bearing the couple’s rings in a velvet pouch. The ceremony was at the aptly named Peckforton Castle in Cheshire. Ollie was especially trained for the task and had delivered for many wedding couples.
Jean-Marc Bosman – The game-changer
‘Moving on a Bosman’ came into the language of soccer in 1995. A revolution in modern football was sparked by a player who never hit the heights of top leagues or the international stage, but became an international rebel with a cause and turned the administration of the game on its head. Beligian Second Division player Jean-Marc Bosman was furious that his club, Liege, and demanded a fee beyond the means of Dunkerque in France, who wanted to sign him at the end of his contract. Hearings about his complaint ruled against Bosman before a civil court ruled in his favour that it was illegal to hold a player for a fee beyond his contract. Thousand of players have since moved free ‘on a Bosman’.
An unidentified English footballer hitched a lift back to his hotel with a Spanish motorcyclist after a boozy night on tour. When he couldn’t awaken the night porter, he grabbed the bike, rode it through a plate glass window and up the stairs. It was bad enough that the player needed 50 stitches; he also had the hotel wrong.
Everton goalkeeper Richard Wright injured himself warming up before a 2003 game at Chelsea – on a sign telling him not to warm up in the goal area.
Zaire dead-ball specialist of the 1970s, Mafuila Mavuba would place a coloured hankie over the ball when taking a free kick, then whip it off magician-like before shooting.
Read some of the other stories from the series here: