Bizarre Stoppage

[Red Star]

Yesterday during my match we had the most bizarre stoppage I have personally participated in. In the first half the match was stopped as a very large snake slithered across the field. I was in the goal at the opposite end and I could clearly see this serpent from 70 yards away. It was at least 4 feet long, probably bigger, holding its head up as it went. We stopped for about 5 minutes, while people were willing to urge it along, no one wanted to get too close. It looked like a striker :o

Has anyone else had similarly odd stoppages? I have had frequent dog and child incidents but what else?

I want to hear about gators.

[Laggard]

We had a game stopped when a large bear wandered onto the field and ate the defensive midfielder from the other team.

That's about it though.

[Gary V]

I recall a post from several years ago on another forum, poster name "AlasKen". He or an acquaintence had to stop a game for a moose.

[whitehound]

Yesterday during my match we had the most bizarre stoppage I have personally participated in. In the first half the match was stopped as a very large snake slithered across the field. I was in the goal at the opposite end and I could clearly see this serpent from 70 yards away. It was at least 4 feet long, probably bigger, holding its head up as it went. We stopped for about 5 minutes, while people were willing to urge it along, no one wanted to get too close. It looked like a striker :o

Has anyone else had similarly odd stoppages? I have had frequent dog and child incidents but what else?

I want to hear about gators.Had a HERD OF DEER run accross a field in suburban Alexandria VA to get to the back yard of a woman who clearly had been feeding them. Wonder how many car accidents that herd has caused.

[Red Star]

I imagine that a herd of deer might leave a little mess intheir wake. Must have been quite a sight when they first came on to the field.

[VaRef]

Lets not forget the Cicadas of last summer. :)

Saw some funny games, where players and refs alike were ducking and weaving from those dive bombers while trying to play the game.

[Red Star]

Cicadas are a bit bizarre, did they end up as crunchy bits on the field?

[Claymore]

I had a stoppage a few years ago when I was reffing a Men's Amateur game at an inner-city park. During the run of play, some homeless guy (looked homeless anway) just wandered on to the field. He was defintely confused. I stopped play and asked if he could move along, we were playing a game. The guy then announced, in a loud voice, that he was looking for his syringes.

I've never seen players get off the field so quickly. He eventually wandered off, but we did a thorough field inspection before we re-started play.

[apl13]

About a decade ago when I was in college we were playing an away game on a pretty torn up field with woods on three sides. The ref suddenly stopped the game and said that someone had shot him in the ankle with a pellet gun from the woods. So he and a few others spent about five minutes looking in the woods for the supposed shooter. Nothing was found. I'm pretty sure someone kicked a small rock that hit him in the ankle -- never did figure out why he immediately thought someone was shooting at him.

[mutinywxgirl]

I had a stoppage a few years ago when I was reffing a Men's Amateur game at an inner-city park. During the run of play, some homeless guy (looked homeless anway) just wandered on to the field. He was defintely confused. I stopped play and asked if he could move along, we were playing a game. The guy then announced, in a loud voice, that he was looking for his syringes.

I've never seen players get off the field so quickly. He eventually wandered off, but we did a thorough field inspection before we re-started play.

That is just down right frightening! Could imagine if there HAD been syringes on the field? I can't even imagine. (shudders at the thought)

[soccertim]

My son had to move a game that he was reffing to another field because there was a bees nest in one of the goals. The first shot that hit the crossbar pretty much shut the game down.

[IASocFan]

My son had to move a game that he was reffing to another field because there was a bees nest in one of the goals. The first shot that hit the crossbar pretty much shut the game down.

Another reason to check the nets before the start of a match! :o

[zlzfire]

That is just down right frightening! Could imagine if there HAD been syringes on the field? I can't even imagine. (shudders at the thought)

In a high school tournament I played in I slid in for a tackle to knock the ball away from a forward and found an icepick that luckily missed my leg by about 3 inches.

[davidjd]

Back in the early 90s I was reffing on a Marine base. The field was on their 'parade grounds' at the main PX. They had something going on there earlier in the day and there was a large (double propeller) helicopter about 10 yards off field near the midline. They would not let us start the game until the helicopter was gone as they were afraid the soccer ball might damage it. About 2 weeks later the season was called when the base got shipped out for desert storm. Good thing Saddam didn't have any soccer balls in his stash of secret weapons!

- davidjd

[Law5]

We used to have a turkey that came out of the woods at a suburban complex to watch games. He rarely went on the field, though. I have had a ferrett get away from its owner and join the fun out there.
There's one field in our area where occasionally derelicts wander across the field, oblivious to people running up and down out there, or the people running around and around the track on the outside of the field.

[Statesman]

Well, wasn't quite a stoppage of the game but certainly a bizarre incident. Basically, a player kicked the ball into touch but hit it a bit too hard. The ball went rolling down a slope and into an area with lots of brush. One of the mothers went to go chase it down but after reaching the bottom of the slope she gave a short Yelp! Turns out the ball rolled into the back of a porcupine and actually deflated from its quills. The mom had nearly grabbed the porcupine thinking it was just another stickler bush :)

[soccertim]

Another reason to check the nets before the start of a match! :o

The joys of town leagues (and the youth coaches). My son was reffing 2 consecutive games on the same field. The coaches for the second game decided to set up shop on an empty adjacent field, and started to play their game with a coach reffing it because "the ref never showed up". My son took over the game a few minutes into the first quarter (the littles play 4 quarters). The first time the ball went out of bounds he came over to me and said there were bugs flying around on one end of the field. Before I got over there, there was a play near the net, resulting in a dozen or so bees circling the crossbar. My son stopped the game and moved them to tthe field they were supposed to be on. Some of the parents actually complained that they had to get up and move their chairs to the other field.

[Wreave]

We had the sprinklers come up once during a game. They went for about five minutes before someone figured out how to shut them down. That was kind of a shocker...