6 of the Best and Strangest Football Stories

Football is all sorts of fantastic and bizarre at times. At times, you’d be surprised that events like these actually transpired several years ago.

List of some the best, yet the strangest, football stories of all time

1) Celery chant

You have to thank the Chelsea fans for being the most creative (despite the inappropriateness of the language) when it comes to chants.

Chelsea fans are said to bring celery to Stamford Bridge for several decades now because of this chant. 

However, in 2007, the club issued a statement forbidding the fans from bringing the veggie to the Bridge. It was outlawed and considered as “dangerous.” 

Anyone caught doing will be punished with a refusal of entry and lifetime ban.

Fans were also encouraged to report any fan seen carrying celery. A dedicated hotline was on standby. All reports were treated as confidential.

2) A minute of silence

Teams honour fans who passed away. So in 1993, the oldest fan of Congleton of the HFS Loans League was reported dead a week before. The team mourned his death before playing the match.

The minute of silence was halted midway when the fan walked right into his silence memorial. The public relations department of the club immediately cancelled the memorial.

3) One versus one

The Isles of Scilly Football League was once considered as the smallest league worldwide.

It has two teams, namely Woolpack Wanderers and Garrison Gunners. For the entire season that is composed of 17 games, they had to play one another.

There were other Cups, called the Foredeck and Wholesalers. Both Cups were played by, yes, you guessed it right, the Wanderers and the Gunners!

4) Same team names

Some football players’ names are challenging to pronounce. That’s true.

However, in one almost cosmic turn of events, the 20 players from both clubs have the same names. They were all named Bungay. The match happened in Bungay, Suffolk as well.

It was astounding as there were only 500 people in the United Kingdom with the surname Bungay.

No, they have nothing to do with bunga-bunga Silvio Berlusconi. 

5) The 10-minute manager

Coaches are an embodiment of their respective club. Their experiences are definitely different, however.

Some coached a club for several decades such as Sir Alex Ferguson—he was a constant fixture at Old Trafford. Arsene Wenger was with the Arsenal for 15 seasons. 

This cannot be said for Leroy Rosenoir, though. He was a club coach appointee for only 10 minutes. Rosenoir was told that Torquay United, the club he was supposed to head, had been taken over.

6) A bomb on the field

Amateur football players played on the pitch that was later discovered to cover an unexploded German bomb. It was a World War II bomb found in April 1995 in Portland, Dorset. It was discovered by quarrymen.

About 4,000 residents were evacuated while the technicians, a 10-man Royal Engineers bomb disposal squad, disable the bomb weighing 1,100 lbs.

No one got hurt. Thus, it was regarded as the most prominent peacetime bomb disposal activity in Great Britain.

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Do you want to add in the list of the best football stories of all time? Please do—we are waiting!