Chickens, eagles and hand grenades: Weird things seen on a football pitch

By Simon Rice

 

A chicken walks across the pitch during the Barclays Premier League match between Blackburn Rovers and Wigan Athletic at Ewood Park on May 7, 2012. The chicken was smuggled into the ground in protest at Blackburn's owners Venky's, an Indian company that specialises in chicken meat processing.

Monday night's Premier League match between Blackburn and Wigan was interrupted when a fan released a chicken onto the pitch.
^^Click 'More Pictures' to launch gallery^^
The disgruntled Blackburn supporter was protesting against club owners Venky's, an Indian company that specialises in chicken meat processing.
Here, we take a look at some other strange things seen on a football pitch.

During a drab 0-0 draw between Liverpool and Tottenham in February, a cat entered the field of play.

 

Man in handcuffs
During Everton's televised Premier League match with Manchester City in January, a spectator came on to the Goodison Park pitch and handcuffed himself to Joe Hart's goalpost. After some delay, the handcuffs were broken and the intruder (reportedly protesting about Ryanair) was led away.

Owl
Last year, an owl fell on to the pitch during a Columbian championship match between Atletico Juniors and Deportiva Pereira. Keen to get on with things, Pereira defender Luis Moreno kicked the Atletico mascot off the pitch. Spectators were horrified and Moreno was banned for two games and fined approximately £340.

Car
Following a goal for Real Sociedad in La Liga, the players celebrated by running to the side of the pitch and jumping into a car. Goalscorer Antoine Griezmann then pretended to drive the vehichle in a shamefully blatant marketing ploy. You can watch the footage by clicking here.

Fox
In 1996, the term 'fox in the box' became rather more literal when a fox came on to the Parkhead pitch during an Old Firm game.

Beach ball
Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina must have been left thinking life's a beach after a shot from Sunderland's Darren Bent collided with a stray beach ball, confounding the goalie and ending up in the back of the net. To make matters worse for Liverpool supporters, the ball was thrown on to the pitch by one of their own fans.

Eagle
Both Crystal Palace and Benfica sport an eagle as their mascot, and will at times produce one of the feathered predators and allow it to fly around the stadium before kick-off.

Eric Cantona impersonator
Manchester United players were somewhat surprised to see Eric Cantona joining in a team photo in 2001, especially considering the Frenchman had retired four years earlier. Somehow an impersonator (far left) had got on to the pitch during their Champions League tie with Bayern Munich, and joined in for the pre-match photos.

 

Pig head
When Luis Figo moved from Barcelona to Real Madrid, the Catalonia fans were furious. So when the Portuguese player return to the Nou Camp with his new team, the home fans threw a pig head onto the pitch. Point made.

Rabbit
Fans of Omonia had a nickname for Apoel fans: 'the orange rabbits'. To make that clear, one supporter went to the trouble of spraying a rabbit with orange paint before letting it loose on the pitch. Who knew Cypriot football could be interesting?