A cabbage isn't the strangest thing thrown onto a football pitch

Cabbages, celery, crisp packets and even a pig's head.

Someone threw a cabbage at (now former) Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce on Tuesday night.

We can only speculate this was an ill-conceived act of protest towards the under-pressure Villa boss, who was sacked just a day later, after two years in charge at the club. But, whatever the motive, throwing stuff at a manager from the stands is a cowardly and, well, not very classy act. 

Bruce himself says that he found the whole cabbage thing, “hugely disrespectful,” adding, “unfortunately, it sums up the society we are in at the moment. There's no respect for anyone."

Fair play to Steve for acting with such dignity in the face of such a bizarre act. One has to imagine it was premeditated. We’ve not seen many fans tucking into a half-time cabbage in our time - so it’s pretty likely that this as-yet-unidentified veg chucker will get a stadium ban soon. So not really worth it, eh.

Futile as it may be, it seems football history is littered with fans who can’t resist the basic, primal urge to throw something really far to try and make a point. In fact, this cabbage may not actually even be the strangest thing to have been chucked onto a football pitch. Here are just a few more examples of bizarre things people have decided to throw onto their own pitch, out of protest, frustration or just, sometimes, it seems, to amuse themselves…

In 2007, Chelsea banned three fans, external for throwing celery during their FA Cup win over Tottenham Hotspur.

This wasn’t even the first time that this had happened. In fact, it was the continuation of a long tradition among some of the team’s fans, which accompanies a lewd song about the vegetable that some of their supporters have sung now for decades. 

In 2002, five Chelsea fans were ‘bound over to keep the peace, external’after a similar incident in the FA Cup semi-final at Villa Park.

Those fans pleaded guilty to throwing a missile. One of the five men who appeared before Birmingham Magistrates Court, said: "I'm really pleased I haven't been given a banning order, so I can carry on following my team. I won't be throwing or eating any more celery again."

The club also put out a statement on their website last year to remind fans that throwing objects, including celery, was a criminal offence and that fans carrying the vegetable would be refused entry to the stadium.

Earlier this summer, a match between Charlton Athletic and Fleetwood had to be stopped temporarily as crisp packets rained down onto the pitch. A campaign group protesting against the club's owner, Campaign Against Roland Duchatelet (CARD), chose this medium to express their bad feeling after a member of club staff was reported, external to have had to ask permission to eat crisps at their desk following cleaners’ hours being reduced.

It’s not the first time Charlton Athletic fans have creatively expressed their distaste at the way the club is being run. Across the four-plus years that Belgian Duchâtelet has owned the club, protest has become commonplace. 

In 2016, play was stopped when fans threw thousands of plastic pigs onto the pitch in a joint protest with Coventry City fans.

Addicks fans had previously hosted a mock funeral for the club, before hurling beach balls onto the playing surface. 

Lots of big clubs now have an investment in esports. Manchester City and AS Roma are partnered with Fnatic – who represent a number of professional gamers. 

Some fans at Swiss side Young Boys don’t seem too keen though about the idea of their club investing in this market. Earlier this summer, a match between Young Boys and Basel had to be halted after ultras peppered the pitch with tennis balls and at least one games console controller that had "**** esports" scratched into it.

A banner with a massive pause sign was also hoisted up in the stands.

A baby shower of a different kind.

Fans of Argentinian side Rosario Central obviously enjoyed beating city rivals Newell’s Old Boys in the derby last year. A week after that win, a game between Rosario and Racing Central had to be paused after loads of toy baby dolls appeared on the pitch – all wearing Newell’s kits. 

Does this mean they've spent loads in the Newell's club shop to make their point though?

Perhaps the most infamous of these incidents. Portuguese flier Luis Figo joined Barcelona in 1995 and won two La Liga titles with them. In July 2000 though, he decided to join arch-rivals Real Madrid for a then world-record fee of £37m.

Well, you can probably imagine how that went down among the Barca faithful. 

On his return to the Nou Camp, banners were hoisted to taunt him. He also had the unfortunate job of taking corners that night. A number of objects were thrown, but probably none more remarkable than a severed pig’s head.

Former Real full-back Michel Salgado spoke about the game afterwards.

"By the second or third corner I turned to Luis Figo and said 'Forget it, mate. You're on your own'. I used to offer Luis the chance to take the short corner, drawing up close to him near the touchline, but not this time."

Anyway, so, yeah, there's definitely precedent for this sort of thing. But we wouldn't encourage it - especially not lobbing a hefty vegetable or a pig's head at someone - that could end badly for all parties and it's a waste of your Sunday dinner.

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