Knowledge to impress your mates down the pub with…

1) Barnsley striker Ashley Ward scored, missed a penalty and was sent off in the space of five minutes when playing against Sunderland in November 1998.

2) Everton used to play their home games at Anfield, beforeLiverpool.

3) Against Newcastle in 1986 West Ham defender Alvin Martin scored a hat-trick against three different goalkeepers in an 8-1 win. Attacking midfielder Peter Beardsley was the third of those goalkeepers.

4) The Albanian national team were thrown out ofEngland in 1990, during a stop over toIceland. At Heathrow the team went on a shopping spree thinking that “duty free” meant help yourself.

5) Goalkeepers were not required to wear different coloured shirts from their teammates until 1913.

6) George Weah paid for his teammates uniforms and expenses so thatLiberia could enter the 1996 African Nations Cup.

7) In 1950 India withdrew form the World Cup because FIFA refused to let their team play barefoot.

8) Temperamental genius, Zinedine Zidane, was sent off 14 times during his career.

9) In October 2002 AS Adema battered SO L’Emyrne 149–0. The match in the Madagascan League set the record for highest victory in senior football. SO L’Emyrne scored own goals throughout the match, as a protest to a decision that a referee had made in their previous match.

10) QPR hold the title of having had the most home grounds in football league history, with 18.

image: © Alistair Israel

Simon Bunn

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I possess a swashbuckling attitude towards football writing, aiming to pillage the most exciting and thought provoking topics in the business. Blessed with savvy up to date football knowledge, a dangerous obsession for Aston Villa FC, and a mind of alternative thinking, I welcome all readers aboard.