![]() "I wanted to see the game, but had nowhere to leave the pig," said Kisilev. Having nowhere to leave his porcine pal, Kisilev attempted to take it with him, but was stopped by police. In May 2006 Vladimir Kisilev was in Moscow to show one of his prize-winning pigs at a farm show and afterwards was keen to head over to the Luzhniki Stadium to watch Spartak Moscow v Zenit St Petersburg. Not only inanimate objects have fallen foul of footballs rulemakers. ![]() "The latest absurdity came at Highbury on Tuesday night when police video cameras solemnly scanned the terraces for illicit giant bananas." The Gunners, though, soon relented and the inflatable craze was allowed to die a natural death. "Football has become a leading victim of the British mania for banning things," wrote David Lacey. Something had to give, and it did at Highbury, where local police deemed that the oversized novelty fruits could, by obstructing spectators' views, incite violence. Blackpool started selling two and a half feet high plastic Blackpool Towers. At Wimbledon's Plough Lane, 1,500 Grimsby fans turned up waving haddocks. By February Bristol City arrived for a Littlewoods Cup semi-final with 200 sets of blow up fangs in honour of their manager Joe Jordan. "As City scarves and banners would have been a bit of a giveaway," wrote Mike Rowbottom in the Guardian, "a less obvious rallying device was devised. Away supporters were banned due to trouble in a previous play-off fixture, but some City fans made their way into the ground regardless. Arguably, the finest hour of the City inflatable craze came in September 1988 when the team visited Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea. In the 1987-88 season Maine Road became populated with a bumper crop of blow-up bananas, named, in honour of striker Imre Varadi, "Imre Banana". And the vuvuzela is not the first noise-maker to face a football ban – wooden rattles were banned in the 1970s due to their handy heft for hooligans. Along with "any article that might be used as a weapon", spectators are not allowed to take into the ground: unlicensed musical instruments, including trumpets, drums and "other devices capable of causing a disturbance or nuisance" Flag poles greater than 1m in length Flares Bottles, glass vessels, cans and flasks Frisbees and "similar items" Dangerous or hazardous items Illegal substances Explosives or ammunition fireworks Knives, blades or other weapons Firearms Scooters, skateboards or other skates Laser devices Smoke canisters Signs or items with corporate or inappropriate branding Unauthorised fliers Spray paint or large industrial style marker pens Prams and push chairs Transmitting devices Professional cameras and recording devices Large suitcases, lap tops, and back packs Illegal merchandise items Water bottles Illegal charity collection utensils Motor bike helmets Umbrellas Darts Hampers and Cold Boxes Air horns Alcohol and animals (except service dogs and guide dogs).īut Wembley is far from alone. If there's one thing that football grounds are good at it's banning things. "With clubs falling over themselves to ban the vuvuzela, I was wondering what other seemingly innocent items have clubs found it necessary to ban over the years," writes Paul Briscoe.
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