Boiler suits, rugby bees, Batman, Nazis and civil war: Football’s weirdest pitch invasions

Bundes boilers

FC Köln and Borussia Mönchengladbach have never been the best of friends but the Rhine derby took an unlikely turn in February, in what could have been confused for the first sign of the apocalypse.

As Mönchengladbach celebrated a Bundesliga win given to them by a late Granit Xhaka goal, hordes of Köln fans dressed in sinister white boiler suits started to maraud across the pitch. Thankfully they weren’t responding to some sort of terrible chemical accident threatening human existence, but were merely up for a bit of mischief and were chased off the pitch by riot police.

How (not) to shoot

A photographer is one of life's artists, determined to capture the moment with the perfect picture, forever seeking a unique angle that no one else thought to find.

Seeing that a penalty was about to be taken during a women's match in Russia, one official photographer decided there was no better way to document the moment than to charge into the middle of the pitch and set up his tripod, ready for the spot-kick. After all, why wouldn't he be allowed to do that? Unfortunately, he had overstepped the mark – by about 30 yards – and the frustrated artist was swiftly sent off by the referee.

Thank goodness you're here, Batman

Things can escalate quickly in League Two. "All I wanted to do was applaud the fans who were in their fancy dress and doing the conga," said a slightly perplexed Jimmy Bell. “Instead I had Fred Flintstone, Batman and Robin jumping out of the crowd to help me."

Accrington had just lost an end-of-season fixture at Crewe Alexandra and assistant boss Bell was applauding the visiting fans when he was inexplicably mistaken for a pitch invader by stewards and wrestled to the ground. Thankfully before anyone could say 'Holy Accrington Stanley assistant manager', fancy-dress supporters had invaded the pitch and rushed to Bell's aid. Good work, Batman.

That must have stung

Burnley mascot Bertie Bee has been no stranger to controversy over the years, having been locked in the Turf Moor jail two years ago when he was sent from the touchline for offering his glasses to a linesman. But Bertie's greatest sting operation came in a Lancashire derby against Preston in 2000.

A streaker ran on to the pitch and managed to evade the chasing stewards – only to be to sent flying through the air by the perfect rugby tackle from Bertie Bee, who puzzlingly appears to have human feet. "I played rugby league for about 15 years," Bertie buzzed. “I just thought to myself I’m going to have to take him out. It was my biggest moment, but the streaker’s smallest moment.”

Jumping the Gunn 

There is no more dramatic show of disgust than the hurling of the season ticket, although most fans like to get at least some of their money's worth before they do it. Not so at Norwich, where two fans got precisely 22 minutes of football for their £350 season tickets in 2009, before charging across the pitch and throwing them at beleaguered manager Bryan Gunn.

By then Norwich were already 4-0 down at home to Colchester in their first game in League One. The game finished 7-1 and Gunn was promptly sacked. Luckily the two fans didn't miss much in the other 22 home games that season... apart from 16 wins and 47 goals as Paul Lambert – hired from Colchester, having passed the audition – led Norwich to the title.

Peru 0, Nazis 1

Eight decades on, the events of a 1936 Berlin Olympics quarter-final remain a source of controversy in Peru. Their opponents were Austria, who had the backing of homeboy Adolf Hitler and the Nazis since Germany had been knocked out a day earlier. Peru came from 2-0 down and, despite having three goals disallowed, led 4-2 going into the final minute of extra time. Then came a pitch invasion, which led to an Austrian player being injured and the abandonment of the game.

Peru, who had five black players in their team, claimed the pitch invasion was a Nazi conspiracy to prevent them from winning. The Austrians, somewhat stretching credulity, claimed the pitch invaders were Peruvian fans. Reports in Peru later claimed that the referee had abandoned the game because he had suddenly noticed the pitch was the wrong size.

Whatever the given reason, a replay was ordered but Peru went home in protest, and Austria went on to win the silver medal. The events prompted widespread anti-German sentiment in the country, with Peruvians refusing to load goods on to German ships.

The ex-factor

Stevenage's triumph over Newcastle in 2011 was one of the FA Cup's great feelgood moments. At least it was until a member of the winning team was floored by a right hook from one of Stevenage's fans.

Initially there was bafflement about why a fan would do such a thing during what was otherwise a good-natured victorious pitch invasion. Later it emerged that Scott Laird, the player who had been punched, was the ex-boyfriend of the supporter's current girlfriend. The fan was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison.

I'll take this one, Christian

We all know Christian Eriksen, Tottenham maestro, Denmark's shining light, born in Middelfart. It would seem unlikely, then, that a hotel receptionist who'd just had eight pints would be able to take a better free-kick than him. West Ham fan Jordan Dunn was a little worse for wear when he decided to invade the Upton Park pitch on the opening day of the season against Spurs, just as Eriksen was lining up a free-kick.

The fan escaped the stewards for long enough to race forward, dink the ball over the wall and force West Ham keeper Adrian into a save. Once the pitch invader departed, Eriksen stepped up to take the free-kick for real... and fired it over the bar. Hammers supporters had a whip-round to pay the fan's fine. It's doubtful that they also sprung for some extra set-piece coaching for Eriksen.

When United had the Power 

Minutes before kick-off at the Olympiastadion in 2001, a formidable Manchester United side were lining up for a pre-match photo, ready for a Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich. They looked particularly imposing on this occasion, almost as if they had 12 men. United legends side by side – Keane, Scholes, Giggs, Wes Brown and... wait a minute, who's that guy?

In a stunt that had been two years in the planning, unemployed labourer and United fan Karl Power – titular topic of Black Grape’s single Fat Neck – had blagged his way onto the pitch in full kit, complete with 'Cantona 7' on the back. As Power lined up next to an unsuspecting Andy Cole, Gary Neville tried to point out the interloper. "Shut up you grass, Eric sent me!" Power replied, and the photographers snapped away.

The kick that started a war

Political tensions were rising in Yugoslavia when Red Star Belgrade travelled to fierce rivals Dinamo Zagreb for a crucial league match in May 1990. Fights broke out between the two sets of fans outside the Maksimir Stadium before kick-off and things got worse when the game started, eventually resulting in Zagreb supporters storming the pitch. As riot cops battled to push them back, Dinamo captain Zvonimir Boban aimed a flying kick at a police officer.

It has since been described as “the kick that started a war”, although the Croatian War of Independence did not officially start for another 10 months. Boban was banned for six months, ruling him out of the 1990 World Cup, but would later go on to star for AC Milan and Croatia.