HUGE WAVE OF ANIMALS APPROACHING! Football games raided by creatures big & small

When animals invade: Soccer games have been raided by creatures great and small

I know the animals

Are laughing at us

Don't even know

What a joke is!

- from the song "Animals" off 'Fear of Music'

Animals think they're pretty smart. They've got us all well-trained, we watch their cute videos incessantly and we allow them to freely ruin our football events.

This is truly unfortunate considering how nice we are to most of the animals we don’t eat. We care for them, treat them like family, give them loving homes, feed them without reservation even when they howl at us at ungodly morning hours and exhibit unconditional affection for them despite their inability to sometimes properly clean their own butts.

Perhaps as some sort of revenge for, say, grooming them into insane shapes that we find ‘cute’ or amusing, they have decided to come after us guns blazing into our football events.

As recently, a drift of wild boars explored Fiorentina's newly opened training ground, we decided to look at some instances where cute, adorable, annoying, inconsiderate and awesome animals decided to interrupt football events. Most of the animals survived these altercations as they did their darndest to interrupt our oh-so-important event.

Tips: This article contains a lot of videos, please pay attention to the use of traffic.

Snakes

Absolutely FABULOUS. There was a snake wandering around at the game between FC Botosani and Clinceni. In the most unusual place on the planet! Romanian football is FANTASTIC.

— Emanuel Roşu (@Emishor) September 21, 2020

If there's one animal you don't want to accidentally step on while darting down the wing it's a rogue snake, like the one spotted slithering across the pitch during the recent Romanian match between FC Botosani and Clinceni.

Alpacas

It's not every day that an alpaca stops play, but that's precisely what happened during Carlton Athletic's English non-league game against Ilkley Town at the weekend. ↓

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The fluffy pitch invader, named Oscar, made his way onto the pitch five minutes before half-time after escaping from a nearby farm and made several clever runs into space before being ushered back to his pen.

Dogs

Of course, dogs are by far the most common example of the mammalian pitch invader with another tale of a curious canine stopping play cropping up every few months or so.

Our favourite recent example has to be the gifted pup who interrupted a game in Turkey and then proceeded to demonstrate better ball control than most of the human players involved. ↓

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Everyone who watches South American football loves a dog on the pitch but what about the one in Ecuador that saved a penalty... ↓

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You've simply got to respect the flawless timing of the dog who successfully crept onto the pitch to save a penalty during an amateur game in Ecuador. ↓

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Indeed, the sight of an overexcited dog hurtling out onto the pitch is now so commonplace in South American football that broadcasters are even affording them postmatch interviews.

Cats

Cats have also done a roaring trade in pitch invasion over recent years, with some becoming fleeting viral celebrities in their own right.

For instance, the tabby who came slinking onto the pitch during a game between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur in 2012 was instantly christened "Anfield Cat" and had hundreds of Twitter fan accounts opened in their name. ↓

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Famed for their agility, it was no surprise to see a deft under-lapping run from this feline encroacher during a 2019 Leagues Cup clash between Real Salt Lake and Tigres. ↓

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To say Andre-Pierre Gignac was stunned is an understatement.

Squirrels

The precursor to Anfield Cat, the only thing preventing the legendary Highbury Squirrel from becoming a huge viral superstar in his own right after Arsenal's 2006 Champions League tie against Villarreal was the unfortunate fact that social media didn't really exist at the time. ↓

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Manchester City's Etihad Stadium had its own bush-tailed visitor in 2017, before a Carabao Cup tie against Wolves. The squirrel went scampering across the turf as the City players were warming up, nimbly evading capture at every turn. ↓

Thankfully, the staff did finally manage to apprehend the interloper, only to discover that it was in fact a vocal City supporter.

Bees

While fluffier critters can usually be easily persuaded to leave, a little more concerning for players is the sight of a swarm of bees descending upon your pitch.

A aggressive swarm invaded a Tanzanian game between Young Africans and Iringa United and promptly set about attacking all of the players from above. ↓

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Insects

As well as bees, several other notable insect invaders have become breakout stars after dabbling in the world of football.

This moth is literally licking up Ronaldo's sweet tears. ↓

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We've had James Rodriguez and his giant locust, Cristiano Ronaldo and his tear-supping moth and the massive cloud of midges that almost scuppered England's 2018 World Cup game against Tunisia. ↓

Pine Martens

Giving bees a good run (fly?) for their money in the "most aggressive animal pitch invader" stakes is the wild pine marten who ran amok during the Swiss Super League game between FC Thun and FC Zurich in 2013.

Not only did Marten bring the encounter to a screeching halt, it also managed to bite one of the players (Loris Benito) and draw blood. ↓

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Ducks

This duck went streaking on the pitch at Rio Tinto Stadium last night. He gave the Real Salt Lake grounds crew a run for their money. Nice assist from Albert Rusnak on the capture of the bird. 

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— Jeremiah Jensen (@JJSportsBeat) September 2, 2018

Obviously a mecca for animal pitch invaders, Real Salt Lake saw a match temporarily suspended in 2018 while a confused duck was removed from the side of their pitch.

Cows

Video of cow playing football goes viral on social media, people cheer for 'Rising Football Star' ↓

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Proving to be one heck of a physical midfield general, the cow that invaded a local game in India last year just could not be shaken off the ball.

Meanwhile, in Bulgaria: 

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The bovine bruiser obviously learned all he knows about commanding the middle of the pitch from his bigger Bulgarian cousin.

Sheep

Back in 2017, the Welsh lower-league tie between CPD Llanberis and Llandudno Junction FC was momentarily impeded by a pair of pitch-invading -- and excessively wooly -- hooligans.

Play was stopped midway through the Alliance League Division One match when a couple of sheep came galloping onto the paddock. ↓

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Horses

Not all animals are pitch-invading hoodlums, as duly proved by the extremely polite horse who travelled from a nearby field to watch his local non-league side Ashington FC from the terraces. ↓

Deer

Definitely not one you see every day, Scottish lower league side Fort William FC were forced to stop a training session because two stags decided it was the perfect place to stage their rutting battle. ↓

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Do you know other stories of animals entering the football field? Please let us know in the comments section!