Independiente star Leandro Fernandez became the latest member of the football community to figure out which extreme fans fans will go to to show their disapproval of a player.
The attacker required medical attention earlier this week after a supporter of bitter rivals Racing Club launched a raw fish in the face during a Primera Division match.
Fernandez was carried off on a stretcher and checked by the club’s medical team before he was deemed fit to continue playing in the highly competitive game.
Argentine footballer Leandro Fernandez was punched in the face with a raw fish (above)
It seemed to be painful as he immediately fell to the ground and grabbed his face
But it wasn’t even the first time a player had been hit by a fish, with Hansa Rostock fans hurling a dead man at Carl Zeiss Jena supporters during a third division match in October 2017.
“No one was injured and that was not the intention,” the club writes on the Liga3 Online website. “Let’s not get carried away, even if it’s not fun to throw dead animals.”
Frankly, the game has seen no end of idiosyncratic projectiles thrown at players and staff.
Here, Sports post looks back at the most special objects that have found their way to the football field.
beach ball
Pepe Reina will never look back fondly on October 17, 2009.
You probably all know the story by now, when a Sunderland counter-attack ended with Darren Bent taking a shot from a beach ball that had landed on the pitch.
The Liverpool goalkeeper had a few moments to forget when he tried to save the beach ball instead of the football, a particularly costly mistake as it was the only goal of the game at the Stadium of Light.
The infamous ‘beach ball’ incident between Liverpool and Sunderland left Pepe Reina stranded
Liverpool players complained – and the rules state their protests were justified – but referee Mike Jones waved them off and the goal stood.
What seemed like a reasonable regulatory save has now disappeared from Premier League folklore for bizarre moments.
A Liverpool fan later admitted to throwing the bright red ball with the Liverpool crest on it – which now occupies a place in the National Football Museum in Manchester – onto the pitch.
pig’s head
In El Clasico matches this century, goals, eliminations, moments of brilliance and fights have abounded. But none were as bizarre as the 2002 clash between Barcelona and Real Madrid at the Camp Nou.
Luis Figo hadn’t exactly expected a warm reception in Catalonia when he left Barcelona in 2000 for their arch-rivals for a then world record transfer of £52million.
The former Portuguese star was kept off the corner when he first returned to Barcelona, but the same couldn’t be said for 12 months. And given what happened, the move to let someone else take a corner in the first place was a sensible one.
A butchered pig’s head was thrown onto the pitch when Luis Figo took a corner
Figo discovered how deep-rooted that hatred was when a butchered pig’s head was thrown onto the field during the match as he took a corner for Real Madrid.
The match was stopped for 16 minutes by referee Medina Cantalejo, with lighters, bottles and cans also being pointed at Figo.
Then Barcelona boss Louis van Gaal blamed Figo for the incident, claiming he had provoked the home fans, but the Portuguese gave the best response to the hatred by winning the title that season with Los Blancos.
plastic pigs
However, don’t think that the 2002 incident with Figo is the only time in history that pigs have been involved in such strange circumstances.
Fortunately, these pigs were plastic and saw fans of Charlton and Coventry gather to protest their respective owners by launching them onto the field.
Their League One game during the 2016-17 season was delayed as a result, with both sets of fans throwing plastic pigs onto the pitch at the Ricoh Arena before kick-off, giving Declan Rudd an exhibition game in Charlton’s goal.
Sky Blues fans were unhappy with club owners Sisu, while Addicks supporters protested against Roland Duchatelet, and demonstrations were also held outside the stadium before the match finally got underway.
Declan Rudd catches a toy pig thrown by fans of Charlton and Coventry at the Ricoh Arena
cabbage
Steve Bruce has had quite a few clubs where supporters have not exactly been on his side. Read what he said about his last management stint at Newcastle.
“Never really wanted, feeling like people wanted me to fail, reading people constantly saying I was going to fail, that I was useless, a fat waste of space, a stupid, tactically clumsy cabbage head or whatever. And it was from day one.’
Unfortunately for the former Manchester United defender, his time at St James’ Park wasn’t the only time fans showed their anger at him.
And the option an Aston Villa fan took in 2018 was as striking as the constant booing and protests against him in Newcastle.
Steve Bruce saw a cabbage thrown at him ahead of Aston Villa’s 3-3 draw against Preston
Villa had had a string of indifferent results leading up to their Championship match against Preston North End in October of that year.
And things got much worse when Bruce was pressured to see a cabbage thrown at him ahead of their 3-3 draw against Preston at Villa Park.
“To say it’s disappointing is an understatement for a club like this. [the cabbage was thrown] before we even started,” Bruce said afterwards.
“The man being questioned… unfortunately it sums up the society we are in right now. There is no respect for anyone.
‘Especially for someone like him, I’m surprised he knew what a cabbage was. I find it all very disrespectful.’
sex toys
This incident was so bizarre in nature that former Liverpool star Gary McAllister gave a rather detailed version of the events to FourFourTwo.
Speaking of his pivotal role in the UEFA Cup’s 5-4 win against Alaves in 2001, the Scotsman said: “I scored, had a hand in the winner and got the man of the match award from one of my heroes. Johan Cruijff, but what I remember most that night was the huge sex toy that ended up on the field!
“I took a corner in the second half, Robbie Fowler was next to me warming up for our supporters, and suddenly there was a thud.
“Robbie and I both looked at it and I said, ‘Is that a…?’ “Yes, Gary,” Robbie said. “That’s a sex toy.”
“Robbie walked over casually, propped him up with his right foot, and shoved him back into the crowd with his left hand.”
Former Liverpool star Gary McAllister did not say his goal or assist was the most memorable of their UEFA Cup final victory against Alaves
Celery
A vegetable that has been a regular on Stamford Bridge since the 1980s, celery’s rather bizarre association with Chelsea began with a song sung during matches by noted blues fan Mick Greenaway.
As time went on, it was thrown onto the field and eventually something had to be done about it.
In 2002, four fans were arrested for throwing celery onto the West London pitch.
Cesc Fabregas was especially annoyed when a celery stalk was thrown on the field
It took another five years before it was completely banned, and the 2007 League Cup final between Arsenal and Chelsea came to a halt after celery was thrown again.
Cesc Fabregas – then Arsenal and later Chelsea – was especially annoyed when the stalk of the vegetable was launched at him as he tried to take a corner at the Millennium Stadium.
Now banned to Stamford Bridge – where reports suggest a hotline has even been set up for people to report on-site viewings of celery – some argue that celery is still being brought to away games