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Top ten most bizarre moments in Midlands sporting history

-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


No matter what sport you follow, it can be a funny old game. Here’s our top ten of the most bizarre moments in Midlands sporting history. Many may appear too weird to be true, but, as Mike Lockley discovers, they really happened.

1. Tony Wilson was the hulking, heavy-handed boxer who could hold his own against the very best.

Problem was, his mum Minna obviously wasn’t privy to that information.

When the going got tough for Wolverhampton’s former British light-heavyweight champ against Steve McCarthy at Southampton’s Guildhall, the 62-year-old decided to rush to her son’s rescue.

During the third round of that September 1989 contest, she clambered over rows of spectators, squeezed past security, got into the ring and struck McCarthy over the head with one of her high-heeled shoes.

Boxer Tony Wilson's mum Minna attacking his son's opponent
Boxer Tony Wilson's mum Minna attacking his son's opponent -Credit:Internet Unknown

The blow opened a gaping wound that required hospital treatment.

Bizarrely, the ref awarded the fight to Wilson after his opponent, blood streaming from his head, refused to continue. The decision sparked uproar.

Sheepish Tony said afterwards: “I’ve banned her from watching me again. I just don’t know why it happened.”

Trainer Jimmy Tibbs clearly saw a window of opportunity in Minna’s attack, however.

“I’ve tried to sign her up,” he laughed. “But the Board won’t grant me a licence.

“She’s done what any mum would do under the circumstances. She just blacked out. She didn’t know what she was doing.”

Some boxers do have ’em!


2.
Britain has given the world football, cricket, rugby – and streakers.

But few naked fans have shown such athleticism as the acrobatic individual who invaded the pitch during Aston Villa’s clash with Manchester City on February 12, 2012.

During the televised fixture, Sam Gorman, from Droitwich, ignored the freezing conditions, ran on to the pitch and performed a perfect handstand.

The authorities did not share the 23-year-old’s sense of humour, however.

His antics, spawned by a £100 bet, earned him an appearance at Birmingham Magistrates Court, where he admitted indecent exposure and going on to the playing area of a football pitch.

Gorman was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for two years, given an 18-month community order and told to pay £145.

Naturists in the Midlands dubbed Gorman’s treatment a naked injustice.

Major Frank Buckley
Major Frank Buckley



3.
It became known as football’s monkey gland controversy – and is surely the most bizarre “performance-enhancing” scandal to rock football.

Major Frank Buckley, manager of mighty Wolverhampton Wanderers, was a man always looking at ways of giving his all-conquering team an edge over the opposition. So it was no surprise when the boss took a stab at the controversial techniques pioneered by top surgeon Serge Voronoff.

Voronoff believed that grafting tissue from monkey testicles on to human testicles boosted stamina and recovery.

It was a theory that had quite a few followers in the 1920s and 30s, and Buckley joined them.

He had his players undergo the strange process, arguing there was nothing in the rule book that banned such a radical approach to the game.

It seemed to work. Wolves’ players seemed stronger, fitter and the results improved. That has now been dismissed as a “placebo effect”.

Not surprisingly, other clubs were far from happy and in 1939 a heated debate took place in the House of Commons over whether footballers could use monkey testicles.

Eventually, the procedure was dismissed as less than useless and fell out of favour. Serge Voronoff had made a monkey out of the game.

Peter Odemwingie
Peter Odemwingie -Credit:Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images



4.
West Brom’s Peter Odemwingie features in one of football’s most bizarre non-transfers.

Amid a flurry of media excitement, in January 2013, Odemwingie drove from the West Midlands to sign on the dotted line for London side, Queens Park Rangers.

There was just one problem. Rangers’ boss Harry Redknapp denied he wanted the striker, and said he’d never publicly shown any interest in Odemwingie.

With the cameras clicking, the Nigerian footballer was left stranded in Rangers’ car park.

He returned to The Baggies in disgrace and was flogged to Stoke at the end of the season.

Peter Enckelman can't believe his blunder in letting in the second goal
Peter Enckelman can't believe his blunder in letting in the second goal -Credit:Birmingham Post and Mail



5.
It has been 15 years since keeper Peter Enckelman’s infamous gaffe in the highly charged atmosphere of an Aston Villa v Birmingham City derby – and the fans still talk about it.

In short, it’s one of the Premier League’s strangest own-goals.

Team-mate Olof Mellberg aimed a fairly innocuous throw-in at the keeper, who appeared to slice it with his foot into the net.

The blooper sparked delirium among Blues fans and one raced on to the pitch and goaded Enckelman.

In a recent interview, Enckelman admitted it will be a long, long time before his error is forgotten.

But did he actually touch the ball as it rolled slowly towards the goal?

READ MORE: Villa vs Blues: Peter Enckelman discusses his infamous blunder almost 15 years on

“The actual truth is I’m not 100 per cent sure,” said Enckelman. “I’m 90 per cent sure I didn’t touch the ball, but I couldn’t swear I didn’t.

“Steve Staunton asked me if I did and I said ‘No’, so he said it should be a corner.

“I saw Robbie Savage harassing the linesman, and then they gave the goal.

“I took a lot of stick and it was scary how many mentions there were of that game.

“What I have learned is that it isn’t the person that people hate, it’s the goalkeeper.”



6.
It was a soccer cock-up of such comical proportions that they considered making a film about it.

Pub side Oxbarn FC, languishing in the seventh division of the Wolverhampton Sunday League, decided to organise a football tour of Germany as part of two players’ impending weddings.

They thought they would play a fellow pub team during the 1973 tour, but ended up facing Bundesliga giants SVW Mainz.

The Germans, in turn, thought they were playing the mighty Wolverhampton Wanderers.

In a tangle of miscommunication, SVW Mainz believed the letter requesting a friendly was from THE Wolves. They hurriedly arranged the fixture and a full civic reception.

The result was a 21-0 Oxbarn defeat.

Former player John Shorthouse later recalled: “Our manager, Ronnie Parker, had written to the Mayor of Mainz saying we were a team from Wolverhampton and asking if he could arrange a friendly. The mayor got the wrong end of the stick.

“I think we got the ball into their half twice. By the end the crowd cheered every time we touched it.

“To be fair, the German players didn’t celebrate after the 14th goal. But they didn’t go easy. They were having none of that.”

It was all too much for luckless keeper Roger Titley.

“After the 17th goal we trotted back to the centre circle and realised something was missing – the ball,” said John.

“Roger had hid it up the back of his jersey. He was that fed up of fishing it out of the net.”

WG Grace
WG Grace -Credit:James Linsell Clerk



7.
He may have been sport’s first superstar, but WG Grace wasn’t above bending, even breaking, the rules.

The Gloucestershire legend took gamesmanship to its limits in 1898 when gentleman bowler Charles Kortright dismissed him three times in three balls.

Quite simply, Grace refused to “walk” and barked at the umpire: “Play on. They’ve come here to see me bat, not you umpire.”

The lack of sportsmanship so enraged Kortright that he pulled two stumps from the ground and sarcastically told Grace: “Surely you’re not going? There’s still one stump left standing?”

Grace said he’d never been so insulted.



8.
The baseline judge really whippy-ed up a storm when he missed a key moment in Tony Pickard’s crunch tennis clash with New Zealand’s Ian Crookenden.

Hundreds and thousands saw the incident that unfairly cost the Ripley, Derbyshire, player the match.

Crucially, the judge didn’t – because he was buying an ice-cream.

As an error, the 1963 incident is down there with a football linesman popping out to get a burger.

But, then, it did take place in Rome where they like their ice cream.

The British Davis Cup player was competing in the Italian championships when the cone-troversy erupted.

Tony later explained: “It was a vital game point. He served and it was at least nine inches long. The umpire looked to the baseline judge for the call, but he was turned round buying an ice cream over the fence. I felt as sick as a pig.”

English composer Sir Edward Elgar
English composer Sir Edward Elgar -Credit:Hulton Archive/Getty Images



9.
Ever wondered who originally composed those football terrace chants?

Well, we know the author of one – Sir Edward Elgar, whose other compositions included Land Of Hope And Glory.

A devoted Wolves fan, Elgar was so moved by one visit to Molineux over a century ago that he wrote “He Banged The Leather For Goal”.

Whisper it, but we prefer “Who Ate All The Pies?”

Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough gives the thumbs up from the touchline dug out
Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough gives the thumbs up from the touchline dug out -Credit:Mirrorpix



10.
No list of sport’s strangest moments would be complete without a mention of larger-than-life football manager Brian Clough.

In 1989, following Nottingham Forest’s 5-2 win over QPR, Cloughie took matters into his own hands when delighted home fans spilled on to the pitch.

He manhandled one, and gave two more a clip round the ear.