Sport brings with it great excitement, passion and joy – but sometimes these things combine in spectacular off-the-field sights that keep fans talking for generations. Here is our list of some of the most controversial in recent memory.
Ron Artest and ‘Malice in the Palace’
Former NBA player Metta World Peace (now referred to as The Pandas Friend) is renowned for his short fuse. One night, in a game against the Detroit Pistons, a fan threw a drink at the player then referred to by his birth name, Ron Artest, which instigated what is undeniably the most famous brawl in NBA history.
The fight started with less than a minute to go when another former player Ben Wallace pushed Panda in the face following a hard foul. An altercation ensued, with both teams attempting to restrain their respective enraged players until it boiled over when the crowd became involved.
And I bet they wished that they hadn’t because, to be honest, if there is one person that you don’t want to throw a drink at it’s Pandas Friend, aka World Peace, aka Ron Artest.
To the fans, Panda had this to say: “before the game I called the Detroit fans a punch of punks, after the game I still think they are.”
The flour bomb test
New Zealand’s famous 1981 flour bombing has gone down in the nation’s folklore. In a rugby game against All Blacks archrivals the Springboks – during a period when South Africa’s Apartheid policies had political tension at an all-time high – a plane circled the Auckland skies above Eden Park. And, for an extended period, bags filled with flour were thrown onto the pitch.
To this day, the flour bombing incident stands as one of the strangest occurrences ever at a professional rugby match.
Eric Cantona erupts on a Crystal Palace fan
In almost all circumstances Eric Cantona is a nice man, he looks nice, he sounds nice and most of the time he will treat you like a king… unless he sees you watching him play football – then he hates you and will immediately launch a Chuck Norris-style fly-kick in your general direction.
This is what happened in a match against Manchester United and by doing so, Cantona has added himself to a growing list of athletes who have decided to have a crack at the noblest of citizens, English Premier League fans.
Boks fan unleashes on the ref… sort of
Ah the courage and passion of a fan staring at the bottom of a plastic cup, once willed with the magical golden liquid, now coursing the veins – ready to be unleashed in a valiant display of tomfoolery.
One such scenario got the better of a Springboks fan, who decided it was in his national side’s best interests to tackle the ref during a stoppage in play. Needless to say, it wasn’t – but it does make for a cracking YouTube video.
Monica Seles stabbed
Monica Seles is one of the tennis greats. Winning 53 career titles and claiming the elusive number one world ranking, the queen of the courts was once revered and now remembered for her aggression and killer instinct. Oh, and she is also remembered for one more thing.
Seles was indecently stabbed a by man during a match. To date it is the only such attack on a tennis player during a match. Fortunately for Seles she recovered physically, but has cited mental concerns following the traumatic event.
Sharks and octopus thrown onto the ice
To be honest, ‘things thrown onto the ice during hockey games’ deserves its own subsection in the realms of crazy sport entertainment. Simply, NHL fans are mad as meat axes and the sky is the limit when it comes to throwing things onto the ice.
The Detroit Red Wings, as part of the club’s rich cultural fabric, throw dead, whole octopi to the ice and claim it as tradition.
However, that is not the strangest, not by a country mile. In a San Jose Sharks game, an unidentified fan threw a shark into the action. But not only did the three foot (yes, three foot) leopard shark get thrown onto the ice it also had an [pause for dramatic effect] octopus stitched into its mouth.
See the video here.
Last but not least, here is a compilation of John McEnroe’s best tantrums.
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