Over the years, we have had our fair share of football matches called off – usually due to inclement weather – not that unusual at all. Though, there have been cases where football matches have been called off for much stranger reasons.
Below, we have a number of reasons for postponements, ranging from the hilarious, the absolute ludicrous to the completely unavoidable and life-threatening.
Keep reading and see how many you remember as we go back a number of decades with examples.
Animal Invasions
At a football match? Really?! Well, yes. Back in 1974 in the fourth division, the match was abandoned due to a bull invading the pitch at the Old Showground. It reportedly took officials several minutes to corner the animal, prompting many to wonder if they literally, ah, “grabbed the bull by the horns”.
Meanwhile, not a game, but during a Sheffield Wednesday training session in the 1980s, an ostrich escaped from a nearby zoo and wandered onto the field, causing a mixture of chaos and hilarity.
In 2013, during a game in South Africa, players were suddenly attacked by a swarm of bees forcing all players to lie on the ground until the threat passed.
Environmental Events
In 1958, prior to a game between Napoli and Fiorentina, the fixture was called off after Mount Vesuvias erupted, covering the city of Naples in ash and debris. Fair enough.
A game between Chester and Plymouth, meanwhile, in 1955, was called off when the River Dee burst its banks and submerged the whole pitch with barely the crossbars being visible. Ah, good old English weather.
Transport Chaos
The “Big Freeze” of 1963 caused havoc across Britain and meant the First Division fixture between Manchester United and Arsenal was called off due to players being literally snowed in.
Also, in 1979, the match between Leyton Orient and Brighton was called off after the Seagulls’ team bus broke down, not once, but twice.
More recently, interestingly, in 2010 the Scottish Premiership game between Dundee United and Rangers was called off when an aeroplane carrying match officials had to be grounded due to an eruption of the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull causing visibility issues after ash drifted south.
Political Reasons
A European Cup qualifier between Yugoslavia and Albania was cancelled in 1967, due to political tensions, with the win subsequently being awarded to Yugoslavia.
In 2012, Egypt, the game between Zamalek and El Masry was abandoned after the Port Said Stadium riot. In theory the game was already finished, however, it was swiftly abandoned, while it also led to months of cancelled fixtures around the country.
Miscellaneous Madness
In 1998 a game between Barnet and Torquay United was delayed by 45 minutes, after a fan handcuffed himself to a goalpost to protest animal testing, while during a game between Ajax and Feyenoord in 2011, this was abandoned after Feyenoord fans threw smoke bombs onto the pitch which obscured the vision entirely.
Finally, in 2019, a match in Bolivia was cancelled after players refused to continue when lightning struck, injuring a match official.
