Match Off! 6 Bizarre Reasons That Games Couldn’t Be Completed

Match Off! 6 Bizarre Reasons That Games Couldn’t Be Completed
10:54, 16 Nov 2017

Frozen pitches, floodlight failure, crowd trouble; all valid and quite common reasons for a game to be called off or have to be rearranged for another time. But when was the last time you heard of a football match being cancelled because of a cheese show?

Here are some of the more ridiculous reasons that games have been postponed, delayed or not completed, with some probably gaining greater notoriety for the fact that that they didn’t go ahead than if they had actually been played.

Fiorentina v Pistoiese, 1954: Unidentified Flying Objects

Not exactly a postponement but on October 27, 1954 a match ground to a halt when unidentified flying objects were spotted over the Stadio Artemi Franchi in Florence during Fiorentina’s game against Pistoiese. The stadium was close to capacity for this local derby but just after half-time the crowd fell silent as fans began pointing at something above. The objects were described as “egg shaped” by eyewitnesses and left a white, snow like substance, which evaporated after about an hour.

According to the referee's match report play was suspended because: “spectators saw something in the sky,” and although there were numerous other UFO sightings across Tuscany that day the official explanation suggests the phenomenon was caused by migrating spiders – a claim which is still disputed to this day by those who were there.

Blackburn Rovers v Middlesbrough, 1996: Flu Epidemic

When a bout of flu ravaged through Bryan Robson’s Middlesbrough side just before Christmas in 1996 the club decided to call off their Premier League game at Blackburn the day before it was due to be played claiming that 23 players in total were unavailable because of injury, illness or suspension.

There were dire consequences for Boro though as, at a resulting Premier League inquiry, Rovers argued that they should have been awarded the points. As it turned out the match was ordered to be played at a later date and Middlesbrough suffered a 3 point deduction and a £50,000 fine. When the two finally did meet the game finished in a draw but the three point deduction would be crucial as it ultimately saw Middlesbrough relegated on the final day of the season.

Sheffield United v West Bromwich Albion, 2002: Too Few Players

In a game now referred to as the “Battle of Bramall Lane” Blades ‘keeper Simon Tracey was the first to leave the field after a handball outside the box on just nine minutes. Having made all of their three substitutions in the game things soon got worse for United when one of those replacements, George Santos, was sent off after 65 minutes – only for Patrick Suffo, who was also a substitute, to be ordered off for his role in the subsequent protests.

With United down to eight players and nobody left on the bench, Michael Brown limped off after 80 minutes with an injury and Robert Ullathorne did the same just two minutes later and referee  Eddie Wolstenholme had no choice but to abandon the match with Albion leading 3-0 as the Blades were reduced to six players; fewer than the regulation minimum of seven.

Torquay v Portsmouth, 1999: Solar Eclipse

This Worthington Cup First Round fixture was due to be played at Plainmoor, home of Torquay United on Wednesday August 11th 1999. Nothing unusual about that you might think, but this was also the date of the first total eclipse of the sun in Britain since 1927 and the South West of England would be the best place to see it.

Despite the fact that the date and location of the eclipse had probably been anticipated for decades the local police requested that the game be called off as they didn't have the manpower to attend the match and deal with the huge number of people who were due to descend on the area to witness this once in a lifetime event.

Frome Town v Chippenham Town, 2015: Cheese Festival

It’s not unusual for an FA Cup tie to be changed to a Friday night in order to cater for a hungry television audience but this clash between two non-league sides was hardly going to trouble the schedulers, it was actually postponed to avoid clashing with the Frome Cheese Show.

The Frome Agricultural and Cheese Show, which was being held that same weekend, regularly attracts upwards of 20,000 visitors so officials of the Southern League Premier Division club acted amid fears the attendance would be affected if the tie was not moved – needless to say, not too many people were cheesed off at the decision to move the match.

Manchester United v Bournemouth, 2016: Fake Bomb

United were due to play Bournemouth in their last Premier League fixture of the season on Sunday May 15, 2016 as they battled with neighbours City for a top four place; but as 75,000 people descended on Old Trafford news quickly filtered through that a “suspect device” had been found in one of the toilets, spreading fear and confusion around the ground.

Understandably the stadium had to be quickly evacuated and the match was called off without a ball being kicked. But the perceived terrorist threat was, in fact, a rather embarrassing hoax as the “bomb” was a dummy device which had been used in a security training exercise that week and had been left in one of the toilet cubicles by mistake.

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