Weirdest thing you have seen on a football field

[bennymacca]

Talk of some sort of protest against vineys suspension got me thinking, what is the weirdest thing you have seen on a footy field. I would have to say I was front and centre in the weirdest thing I have ever seen.

Doesn't have to be at country footy, can be any level, but since my story is from country footy I'll start the thread here

I was playing for Freeling U17s. Playing against our arch rival Kapunda and the game was close, even though they were close to top and we were bottom. Then they got a run on and things got heated, a couple of us got sent off, they used to give you a yellow card for 10 minute sin bin and red if you did it again.

Anyway, the final straw was someone giving away a 100m penalty for yelling at the umpire then punching a bloke and getting sent off (won't name names as to who that was )

Anyway, in the middle of the quarter our coach called us all over to the boundary line to give us a spray, leaving Kapunda to run in and kick an uncontested goal (they had 5 in the centre square at the time but that's another argument)

What other weird things have you seen on the field?

[Q.]

Chickens.

[HH3]

I have two.

1) When playing for Hackham in the dark days, our coach cracked the shits and left at about round 6. The care taker coaches were trying everything to get us semi-competitve. Then one memorable day at Aldinga oval against the Sharks (you may have heard of them)...we were down by a fair bit, and at 3 quarter time our coach told us that EVERYONE was to play "on the ball". This meant at the first ball up to start the quarter, the centre square was surrounded by 14 players, with the other 4 in the middle. It didnt work for the record.

2) Against Adelaide Lutheran a few years ago, I went to wish my opponent luck, and took a step back behind him to check his number, like I do every time I get a new opponent. He saw me and asked me what his number was. I told him. Not too weird yet I guess. THEN....he took a step back and looked at my number....THEN told me what number I was. I said "Thanks" then tried to avoid the weirdo as much as possible. He had a bit of a stare going as well. **** HATE Adelaide Lutheran!

[heater31]

2 that stick in my mind are the team I was playing in was score less going into the last quarter and at the first bounce of the last quarter the opposition got the centre break and booted it towards our goals. One of their blokes marked it and instead of kicking their way turned around and slotted a goal on the run at our end for a rushed behind

The other is seeing on 2 different occasions years apart blokes giving off a handball instead kicking in from a behind. One umpire was so shocked he didn't know what to do and let it go. The other incident after realising what happened called it back for a ball up.

[Phantom Gossiper]

2 that stick in my mind are the team I was playing in was score less going into the last quarter and at the first bounce of the last quarter the opposition got the centre break and booted it towards our goals. One of their blokes marked it and instead of kicking their way turned around and slotted a goal on the run at our end for a rushed behind

I've been in sides that have done that! Junior footy, had to have the opposition score to allow score to stand and get the % boost.

[bennymacca]

It was before my time, but the scorecard was in the club rooms - apparently the Freeling B grade won a game without scoring a goal once. The end score was something like 12 behinds to 1 goal 3

[GWW]

Ross Gibbs playing at Mt Compass Oval, late 90's..cant remember if he as playing fir his club Victor Harbor or representing the league -from memory he pulled his shorts down to his ankles to put his opponent off who as having a shot for goal.

[BoundaryRider84]

It was before my time, but the scorecard was in the club rooms - apparently the Freeling B grade won a game without scoring a goal once. The end score was something like 12 behinds to 1 goal 3

0.14.14 to 1.7.13. Won by a point without kicking a goal

[gadj1976]

Playing ankle deep in snow in Canberra one day. It got up to 1.5 and we were absolutely freezing, taking showers at half time and the like to get warm. Anyway, it was like the mini league, everyone was on the ball to try and keep warm and the ball became like a medicine ball with ice hanging off it.

Anyway, my mate went to kick it and a bloke from Belconnen came in to smother it and it copped him smack bang in the face. You could hear the call of "Tiimmmmbbbeerrrrr" as he fell - knocked out cold, face down in the snow.

Sub-text - We lost, 3 goals to 2 and the A grade was subsequently called off. The local NRL game played by the Raiders was played in snowy conditions but not to the extent we'd been subjected to an hour or two earlier.

Edit - I found the photo of the Raiders game attached

[gadj1976]

Ross Gibbs playing at Mt Compass Oval, late 90's..cant remember if he as playing fir his club Victor Harbor or representing the league -from memory he pulled his shorts down to his ankles to put his opponent off who as having a shot for goal.

I think I've heard that story too. Bryce Gibbs told it on Melb radio one day. Apparently Ross got sent off.

[bennymacca]

We played a game at Williamstown once where the frost didn't clear from the oval until around midday. Not quite snow but probably as close as you could get in SA

[gadj1976]

We played a game at Williamstown once where the frost didn't clear from the oval until around midday. Not quite snow but probably as close as you could get in SA

It's weird going from Adelaide to Canberra to play footy.

Playing B grade as I did, it gave new meaning to kicking the due off the grass. I found it odd that the guys would lather themselves in sunscreen before the game. We'd run out, and you couldn't see past half way, all you hear (when I was playing HBF and BP) was "it's coming boys" and you'd see players streaming back but with no visual of the ball.

Then you'd see the ball and away we'd go, but back to the reason for the sunscreen. After half time, the sun would come through and you'd get scalded, although it was only 4 or 5 degrees. I've never been so burnt in all my time as the first few games of footy in Canberra.

Great times. I remember them fondly.

[saintal]

Not a country game, but the day when St Kilda played Sydney at the SCG in 1993 comes to mind. To quote Sandy Roberts "There's a pig at full forward!".

[bennymacca]

Also when the lights went out at docklands. Was that essendon st Kilda?

[The Closing Cook]

Also when the lights went out at docklands. Was that essendon st Kilda?

Was at Waverley.

[cracka]

Ross Gibbs playing at Mt Compass Oval, late 90's..cant remember if he as playing fir his club Victor Harbor or representing the league -from memory he pulled his shorts down to his ankles to put his opponent off who as having a shot for goal.

I think I've heard that story too. Bryce Gibbs told it on Melb radio one day. Apparently Ross got sent off.

I thought Ross was actually having a shot at goals & wanted to be the first person to do it naked. Got sent off for time wasting.

[limb]

Ross Gibbs playing at Mt Compass Oval, late 90's..cant remember if he as playing fir his club Victor Harbor or representing the league -from memory he pulled his shorts down to his ankles to put his opponent off who as having a shot for goal.

I think I've heard that story too. Bryce Gibbs told it on Melb radio one day. Apparently Ross got sent off.

I thought Ross was actually having a shot at goals & wanted to be the first person to do it naked. Got sent off for time wasting.

Yes that's correct. If I remember correctly, he was lining up for what would have been his 100th goal of the season in a final against Langhorne Creek at Yankalilla Oval. I'm pretty sure they lost and he ended up with 99 for the year.

[GWW]

Oh ok...I wasnt sure when i wrote that if it was true because obviously he was generally closer to his own goals.

But I thought what i saw was at MC.

[steakn]

Over the years i have witnessed many unusual going ons.

1. 2003 it may have been when top of the table Waybacks were leading perenial cellar dwellers Bostons by roughly 70 points with 5 mins to play left in the game. It is worth pointing out that this margin was very minimal compared to a usual Bostons loss(probably averaged 100 pt losses for 5 seasons straight).

As it happened Waybacks got caught with 19 temporarily on the field, their score was wiped and the found themselves trailing Bostons 5.5 35 - 0.0 0.
The next 5 minutes was carnage with Bostons kicking a goal to put themselves over 40 points up then for Waybacks to kick 7 goals but still fall short by 1 point. Bostons 6.7 43 def Waybacks 7.0 42.

Bostons celebrated like it was a premiership and made a huge scene out of it. Waybacks coach at the time declared that the next time they met they would deliver a 200pt hiding.
Funnily enough the next time they did play it was a very wet weekend and Bostons only lost by 2 or 3 points which was again their smallest losing margin for many a year.

Minor details may be inaccurate.

Other funny things i have seen are.
Goal hog FF handpass (1st time for everything) to club stalwart defender running into open goal only to hit goal post and have ball ricochet and collect him in the face.
Very muddy centre square at Centenary Oval @ Mortlock Shield carnival, Mr Umpire slips after throwing ball up and causing a major pile up at which he was at the bottom of.

etc etc the list goes on

[Mythical Creature]

Great thread!

The weirdest thing I have seen on a footy field was in 2008 when we (United) were playing against Hummocks in a prelim final at Virginia. Probably about 5-10 minutes into the final quarter and we were down by about 5 goals and the game beginning to get away from us. As a consequence there started to be a few scuffles every minute or so, nothing too serious but the crowd were getting involved.
The ball comes towards me and over my head towards our forward pocket, so I turn around to chase it and remember hearing behind me the crowd going nuts, so I naturally assumed there must be a bit of argy bargy going on. Anyway keep competing for the ball until a Hummocks player clears it from defence where I remember turning around and looking up and everybody around me including opposition all stopped and gone WTF?

A streaker had ran onto the field and as he was jumping in the air he tripped over himself and knocked himself out cold when his head hit the ground. He was out for a few minutes and had to be stretchered off the ground, one of the trainers threw their hand towel over him for some modesty.

Blessing in disguise for us as the break in play helped and we kicked 5 or 6 goals really quickly and hit the front. Then sadly a Hummocks player kicked a goal basically on the siren with the ugliest floater ever seen.