Most Weirdest Traditions in Football: Almost every team has a tradition and majority of them are followed by their fans too, but there are also few traditions which are just downright weird and for many not supporting fans hilarious. Live Sports Review brings to you three of these weird traditions that are followed few football clubs from across the world and the reasons behind these weird traditions.
- The Everton FC’s Toffee throwing tradition
Everton FC’s Toffee Girl
We all know that The Everton FC is known as the toffees, but ever wondered why? Everton got their nickname from the Everton toffee which was originally made by a shop owner in Everton.
The shop owner who used to make these toffees was called Mrs. Noblett and was adopted as the football club as their mascot. After Mrs. Noblett died, a girl dressed in traditional clothes now walks around the pitch during Everton’s match and tosses toffees into the crowd before kick-off at Goodison Park. This is where Everton’s Toffee throwing tradition started.
- The Chelsea Fan’s Celery throwing tradition
Chelsea FC Fans
While no one knows where this tradition started from and why is it specially Celery and not any other vegetable, but the absurd ritual of fans at Stamford Bridge throwing celery on to the playing surface is one that the Chelsea supporters have been following since the 1980s, while no one knows why this started.
Many have got theories, the most popular of these theories is that Chelsea adopted the ritual from Gillingham, who returned after one summer to find their pitch overgrown with a crop of celery and thus now believe in coving the pitch with Celery as a loveable quirk of English soccer, but many have got offended by this as fans have gone a step further and started pelting celery sticks at the opposing players trying to take corner kicks or are trying to throw the ball in during the match.
Thus, in 2002 five Chelsea supporters got arrested for throwing the vegetable during a game against Aston Villa and Chelsea FC later on in 2007 had to issued a statement warning fans of carrying the vegetable into the stadium during any match and warning them of a lengthy ban from Stamford Bridge if they are found pelting it towards the ground.
- The tradition of Botafogo Dog peeing on players foot
A dog walks on the pitch during a match between Colombia’s Independiente Santa Fe and Brazil’s Botafogo in 2011
While pelting toffees and celery are still understandable to one extent, but one of the weirdest traditions in soccer has been that of Brazilian club Botafogo getting a dog to pee on a player’s foot before the match.
The story goes that long back a dog belonging to Botafogo club owner Carlito Rocha, had broken free of his leash and then has chased the football into the opposition teams net in confusion. The dog, Biriba, since then was adopted as the Brazilian club’s mascot and thus receiving same bonuses as the team’s first- players.
After some time ahead of an important game for the club, Biriba had gone and peed on a player’s leg. Botafogo ended up winning that match, so club and dog owner Rocha made sure that the Biriba speed on the same leg of a player before every game for the club. Botafoga went on to win that year’s, that is 1948 state championship and thus the tradition still follows.
