WHEN the underdog’s away, the mice will play. As if the task of getting past Manchester United in the FA Cup were not enough, Burton Albion also had to negotiate their way around a collection of rodents that ignored signs to keep off the Old Trafford pitch and witnessed the third-round replay at close quarters.
Fortunately for animal lovers, while Burton were crushed 5-0 on Wednesday night, there were no indications that any mice had been squashed under foot. “Every time I looked down I saw a mouse,” Ryan Austin, the Nationwide Conference team’s defender, said. “There were loads of them.”
Not that United are planning to place traps on the grass before the Barclays Premiership match at home to Liverpool on Sunday. “It’s not something that we’ve had a big problem with in general,” Phil Townsend, a club spokesman, said. “We’re between a canal and a railway line, so the amount of debris around here, such as food wrappers, is a source of concern.” The reasons are open to speculation. Given United’s recent decline, perhaps the trespassers were rodents deserting a sinking ship.
The game was not the first football match to feature animals on the pitch. There have been many cases of cats and foxes interrupting games with a sprint from one touchline to another, while, in the middle of one FA Cup tie, a terrier rushed on to the playing area. Bob Paisley, the Liverpool manager, chased after it but admitted later that he used his run as an excuse to talk to his players.
Another appearance by a dog had more serious consequences. During a match between Brentford and Colchester United in 1970, a small dog ran on to the pitch and tackled Chic Brodie, the Brentford goalkeeper, damaging a knee and ending his career. “If I ever catch up with that bloody animal,” Brodie said, “I’ll blow its backside off with a shotgun.”
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A dog scored a goal in a Staffordshire Sunday Cup tie between Newcastle Town and Knave of Clubs. A player with the latter team misdirected a shot but a mongrel that had entered the field leapt to meet the ball and glanced it into the net. Pigeons are less able to take a blow from the ball, however, as shown when a clearance by a Feyenoord goalkeeper struck one and killed it stone dead.
Crowd trouble during the League Cup semi-final between Chelsea and Sunderland in 1985 led to police horses encroaching into the penalty area while play continued. Another horse — Billy, the white horse — gained greater fame in 1923 when he helped to clear spectators from the Wembley pitch to allow the FA Cup Final between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United to take place.
RODENT XI
Pat Lemmings
Rat van den Hauwe
Kevin Ratcliffe
Glenn Rodent
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Vermin Hreidarsson
Stan Moles
Antonio Rattin
Shaun Gopher
Gerbil Cissé
Rudi Völler
Rat Loftmouse
Manager: Jimmy Squirrel