Football Freak Accidents

In May 2000, Thierry Henry caught one in the eye when he went to the corner of the pitch to celebrate scoring Arsenal's winning goal against Chelsea and required treatment after hitting himself in the face with the corner flag - as did Italy's Marco Tardelli at the 1982 World Cup finals in Spain

If those poor souls can be classed as unfortunate then the next category could certainly come under the banner of 'stupidity'.

Top of the pile has to be former England striker Darius Vassell who back in 2003 injured himself whilst attempting to perform surgery on his own foot with a power tool. The Aston Villa forward had a blood blister under the toe-nail on his big toe and used a power drill to bore through the nail and drain the wound. The DIY operation failed but Vassell, now playing his football with Manchester City, succeeded in picking up a toe infection that required medical attention and resulted in having his nail removed.

In another medical calamity, Brazilian striker Ramalho was once bed-ridden for three days after swallowing a large pill doctors had given him to treat a dental infection. The problem was the suppository should have been taken anally.

And whilst we have lowered the tone a mention must also go to Stuttgart Kickers' Sascha Bender, whose persistent flatulence resulted in a facial injury after disgruntled team-mate Christian Okpala punched him. "He permanently provoked me by farting all the time," Okpala explained.

Full story at http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=647804&sec=global&root=global&cc=4716 for those interested