Numbers were worn for the first time in the 1933 English FA Cup final. Everton, eventual 3-0 winners, were numbered from 1 to 11, while opponents Manchester City were from 12 to 22 with the goalkeeper as the latter.
Love it or loathe it, footballers kissing has been a part of the modern game since the 1960s. But the quick congratulatory peck on the cheek is not enough for Miroslav Ciro Blazevic. In 2009 the national team coach for Bosnia-Herzegovina ordered his players to kiss full on the lips as part of a team-bonding exercise. He said kissing on the lips fostered team unity: «I take two of my players and tell them ‘love him, kiss him’.» He added: «The secret of my success is in a unity of a squad. You can’t do anything without an atmosphere in a team.»
A dispute between Hartlepool United and two of its local newspapers ended with some of the media being barred from reporting games. The Hartlepool Mail was red-carded in 2008 by the club for refusing to sign a commercial agreement, then the Northern Echo was barred for supplying the Mail with match photographs. While the dispute ground on the Echo reported from the terraces instead of the press box and got around the photography ban by producing a Roy of the Rovers-style strip cartoon of the day’s action.
A team with no ground who did not play in a league won England’s Amateur Cup in 1951. Pegasus was a scratch team of Oxford and Cambridge university graduates who played away games only. They beat Bishop Auckland, who were in their 14th final, 2-1.
A model revealed the intimate secrets in 2009 about romancing a top Argentina player. She said their first kiss left her with a taste of onions and she needed a soft drink to rinse her mouth – and then he farted because he was nervous. Nonetheless, she said the liaison was «total love». She added: «He had broken wind. He became yet more nervous, but never begged my pardon. It didn’t matter though. He is a romantic, a deep thinker. Oh, what a night!»
Argentina coach Diego Maradona announced in 2010 that he was launching a TV channel in his native country to feature his and the I ives of other sports stars.
Looking like Real Madrid’s star Cristiano Ronaldo has benefits for Jaime Wright from Eastbourne in England. In 2010 he made his living as a professional lookalike, turning up at parties to stand around resembling the Portuguese winger. He revealed he used his Ronaldo resemblance to get unsuspecting women to sleep with him. He was reported as saying: «I was in a club in Manchester and these three girls just came up and said, ‘You are Ronaldo.’ I didn’t say that I was; and I didn’t say I wasn’t. We went back to a hotel and had a great night. I tell them they are very beautiful in Portuguese and I sometimes put the accent on as well. Some girls haven’t realised I am not the real deal until the next morning.»
A European club sacked a player in 2009 over the contents of his book. Comments inside the covers included: «I hate gays. I really do. I think it is disgusting. It’s disgusting to hear them talk. I cannot sit near a gay and I’ve never met a gay in football. It is not possible.» The player’s previous club had sacked him over an alleged assault charge.
A top Peruvian player apologised after his public plea for a threesome with a top model and actress caused an outcry. The woman, the star of a popular Latin-American TV programme, had told a chat show she found the goalkeeper «romantically diverting». In response he was quoted as saying: «It is always flattering to be linked with such a girl. I feel a threesome is in order. It will not be a problem to find a third.» Later, with some rapid back-pedalling, he said: «People who know me, the real me, know that I don’t do love in threes. Look, I’m not denying the girls linked to me are alluring – I’m just rather refined.»
An itinerant mole caused Lincoln United to cancel a match in 2009 because it had left molehills all over the pitch. The club called off a game with Lincoln City reserves after the ground became littered with more molehills than the grounds staff could cope with. Wildlife experts reckoned the mole was probably a juvenile trying to find its own territory, although they admitted it is unlikely that the animal would escape the traps that were scattered across the pitch.
Diplomats forced England’s players into a humiliating Nazi salute before their 1938 international in Berlin against Germany. The British ambassador did not want to snub Hitler’s Germany, but the English players got revenge with a 6-3 win. Only Stan Cullis refused and was disciplined.
Nightclubs seem to bring on the urge for players to pee in public and often they don’t care who is watching. Chelsea’s John Terry and West Ham’s Hayden Foxe were two who hit the headlines. The 2005 public peeing exploits of Terry, who was to become, and then be sacked as, England captain, were filmed and went round the world on the internet. He was seen urinating into a pint glass at a nightclulb bar. Foxe was remembered for an infamous incident at the Hammers 2001 Christmas party w1hen he was seen urinating on the dance floor of London’s Sugar Reef club.
