What's the strangest game you've ever been to?

[The Laughing Bluebird]

I reckon the strangest Cardiff game I've seen came at the end of the 1993/94 season.

A good cup run and several postponments due to bad weather earlier in the season meant that a home game against Cambridge United on Saturday April 30th was City's 12th during that month (one of which was an extraordinary 5-3 victory over Albion at the Goldstone).

During the previous seven days City had drawn 2-2 at Stockport (Sat), beaten Exeter 2-0 (Tues) and thrashed Swansea 4-1 (Thurs). We had several players in the side at that time who were at the tail-end of their careers, and some of them looked knackered during the pre-match warm-up.

The following 90 minutes was the most bizarre I've ever seen at Ninian Park. Half time: Cardiff City 0 Cambridge United 1. Final score: Cardiff City 2 Cambridge United 7. What a second half that was! Seven goals in a league game was a record for Cambridge, and it was their record away win too. For us, it was our heaviest home defeat since 1955.

 

[cheshunt seagull]

QPR 5 Newcastle 5 in 1984. Newcastle 4-0 up at half-time and 5-3 ahedd with 5 minutes to go. Basketball on the plastic pitch at Loftus Rd

 

[sullyupthewing]

Brighton vs. Leyton Orient at the Goldstone it finished 4-4 with Ray Wilkins getting kicked up the arse by a Brighton fan, that was quite surreal.

 

[seagull1971]

There is a midget who lives near me in Horsham who was an ewok and in Willow and Time Bandits. Also made appearances in Little Britain.

Wonder if its the same bloked.

He is a pint sized legend.

Is his name Mark, he use to live in the same rd as me, many years ago.

Correct a real legend.

 

[The Laughing Bluebird]

QPR 5 Newcastle 5 in 1984. Newcastle 4-0 up at half-time and 5-3 ahead with 5 minutes to go. Basketball on the plastic pitch at Loftus Rd

I've seen that on a old Danny Baker video. I think it was called 'Freak Football' or something similar. Amazing game.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

the martin keown testimonail

keown missed a penalty

shaun wright phillips played up front with his dad and thierry henry.

lee dixon and overmars flying down the wings.

beckham shot from kick-off

david seaman was manager

gazza took it past vieira like a kipper!

the old back 5 kept trying to catch henry offside with the arms up

wright and henry swapped shirts and then swapped them with fans in the crowd and played on

the whole crowd chanting for keown and the legends for 90 mins

the strangest, best and most fun footballing experience i will ever see. loved it.

 

[Schrödinger's Toad]

New England Revolutions v Columbus Crew.

The Yanks sure know how to bugger up a pretty good game. 10,000 people inside the 100,000 seater Gillette Stadium, adverts for McDonalds every time the ball went out of play and mexicans everywhere with fridges of beer and pretzels. Rock.

 

[Schrödinger's Toad]

Or Peru v Argentina. Mostly normal, but for the lack of any segregation in the stand to the side and the vast terraces at either end being full of giant stripy condoms being launched into the air. Before the match there was a great scrum by the entrance, which I assumed was for programmes or something - apparently it was this which were given away free and filled with air to be launched.

The home side had a player dubbed "The Peruvian Heskey". It was a fitting moniker; he was put clean through after 10 mins, adjusted his stride accordingly, and fell on his arse. He was later subbed off after getting injured jumping to chest down the ball.

 

[dougdeep]

Watching Spurs play in the Inter-toto cup at the Goldstone. They were trying to lose to a Swiss team to get out of the competition. Their team was made up of reserves and players they had borrowed. The Swiss lot won 2-0 if I remember rightly.

 

[On the Left Wing]

Brigton -v- Charlton, in the 70s at the Goldstone. The fog came down and you could not see what was going on.

I remember turning up 5mins after kick-off to a game in dense fog at the Goldstone in what must have been the very early 70s (1970 to 74ish). Stood on the North Stand we could not see past the half way line. After another 5 mins we heard a great roar from the other end (we had scored). I remember we had to wait until Monday to find out in the Argus who had scored the goal - from memory we won 2-0 and I think the opposition was Oxford, but it was a long time ago!

 

[Gwylan]

There was a Boxing Day matvh against Bristol Rovers about 15 years ago that looked like it was being played on a swimming pool: totally weird.

I also saw a bizarre game between Geneva and Lucerne in the Swiss first division 1991. It was 2-2 after 7 minutes; 3-3 after 20 and 5-3 at halftime. It calmed down after that and finished 6-3 but you'd never have guessed that the defenders were pros.

 

[chips and gravy]

There was a Boxing Day matvh against Bristol Rovers about 15 years ago that looked like it was being played on a swimming pool: totally weird.

I remember that one - I think Rovers scored pretty early on and the ball never went near the net after that. The New Years Day game v Southend at Withdean in the Div 3 title season was like that too

Otherwise here are some other nominations:

Fluminense v Corinthians in the Maracana, Rio. A 200,000 stadium with 2,000 fans in it. There seemed to be one beer seller per 10 fans too!

I also went to a Lewes game some years ago at the Dripping Pan when the lights failed 5 minutes from time with Lewes leading 2-0. The replayed game, which I also went to about three weeks later finished....2-0. That was worth it!

Going to see Cheltenham v Walsall this season in the LDV when I was away at a conference. There was crowd congestion! For the record Walsall won on penalties and you'd have thought that Paul Merson had won the World Cup judging by his glee at the result (remember this guy has won the league!)

Watching any game at the Shay, Halifax pre 1994. One end was a grass bank while the other was a car park. The stand along the sides only went for about 1/2 the length of the pitch and resembled a couple of cattle sheds.

Brighton v Notts County, the first season at Gillingham. My first game that season - it was mid week and Notts County were flying high. They scored after about 10 minutes and then spent the rest of the game passing it to each other around the middle of the pitch knowing they had already done enough to win. Our attack in those days was so piss poor we hoped for 0-0 scorelines every week just so we could get a point! For the record only about 1100 fans were there and the atmosphere was like a mortuary.

 

[Gully]

I remember the Bristol Rovers game, I reckon half the north stand was hoping the game would be abandoned, it was impossible to play football on the pitch, even the bits that weren't covered by water.

Peterborough away in the cup, the game where the club gave away red and white scarves to everyone who had gone by bus (I went by train and missed out), there was snow on the pitch, on one side it must have been 6-8 inches deep but on the other there was just a dusting. Before the game kicked off the groundsmen appeared to be building little ridges around the edge of the penalty box (they may have just done this as it was impossible to see the lines), one of their goals came when a player shot along the ground, the ball hit a ridge and shot over the top of our keeper who had already dived.

 

[NMH]

USA v Russia at Stanford University (near San Francisco) - 'soccer' was a new thing to the Yanks really, and they had a mascot-cheerleader. Odd because while the crowd were enthusiastically chanting "U-S-A", the damn commies scored their first.
There followed a slightly confused mixture of chants and dying voices while they took in the concept of getting a drubbing from the cold-warriors.
It ended 0-3

 

[JJ McClure]

Brighton v Brighton.
Just after the battle of Longford the final game of the tour was cancelled so I went to find where the team was training (Ballygar?). It was me, the mrs and about five other Brighton fans watching the squad play against each other. Very bizarre, still got to have a drink with Mickey afterwards.

 

[Simster]

My first time at The Dell and it finished Southampton 8-2 Coventry City around 1985 in the old Division 1.

2-0 Saints at half time, and eight goals in the second half. Steve Moran in particular had one of those games...

 

[D'Angelo Saxon]

wimbeldon vs. some turkish team

inter-toto cup

goldstone ground

wimbledon put their reserves out and that turkish lot gave them a tonking

wasn't that strange, just shit

That was Wimbledon Vs Bursaspor Kubulu (Or something like that!)

I remember seeing all the turkish fans with huge flags and flares - looking more like something out of Serie A rather than the intertoto...

 

[Vicar!]

Would have to be Swindon 4 Albion 0 abandoned after 65 minutes! (1977) Game played on a sandpit under an inch of water. Absolute madness starting it, O how we laughed....!

Vicar!

 

[bellsize seagull]

most definitely the Albion v Blackpool away last easter time, very weird got beat 3-1 and the game was a bit of a blurr the ground was so spacious and i found myself looking around more than at the game !!!

 

[eastlondonseagull]

Lilongwe v Blantyre, 1999 in Malawi. Great football, with the crowd half watching the game / half cooking their dinner. Very strange day out.

Tranmere Rovers v Scunthorpe Utd in the mid eighties when Ian Botham came on as a sub for Scunny. Kneed the ball into the crowd with his first touch.