10 weird and wonderful moments from Scottish football in 2019

Scottish football has had its fair share of weird and wonderful moments in 2019. Here, the PA news agency looks at 10 bizarre moments of the past 12 months.

Rangers get four penalties in one game

Referee Andrew Dallas hit the headlines by awarding the home side four spot-kicks in Rangers’ 4-0 win over St Mirren at Ibrox in February. Gers boss Steven Gerrard claimed they could have had five while visiting manager Oran Kearney felt only one was definite and at least two were wrongly awarded.

Neil Lennon’s Hibs reign stutters to an end

Hibs announced Eddie May and Grant Murray would take caretaker charge of their game at St Mirren in January a day after reports broke that Neil Lennon had been suspended. The statement did not mention Lennon. Five days later they announced Lennon’s departure and confirmed he had been suspended but also added that their manager and Garry Parker had neither resigned nor been sacked.

Referee is sick in the centre circle

A Highland League clash between Lossiemouth and Huntly was temporarily halted when referee Paul McAvinue vomited in the middle of the park. Lossiemouth soon announced on their official Twitter account: “That’s him done yakking up his tea and we’re on the go again.” However, he was too ill to continue and a replacement came on.

Goalkeeper saves his own clearance

As Storm Erik battered Scotland, Partick Thistle were left perplexed when goalkeeper Conor Hazard was penalised for breaching the back-pass rule when he caught his own clearance during the Jags’ Scottish Cup win at East Fife. The keeper took a pass from a team-mate and looked to smash it upfield but was then forced to grab the ball as the gusts coming off the North Sea blew it back towards his net. Don Robertson had no choice but to award the Fifers an indirect free-kick.

Deer me, kick-off delayed

Another Highland League game was held up after an unusual obstacle was discovered on Fort William’s pitch ahead of the visit of Nairn County. The visitors tweeted: “Kick off suspended until 3.30 pm due to the ref being delayed with the pitch currently waterlogged and covered in deer faeces.”

Coconut thrown in the Edinburgh derby

There have been some shameful missile-throwing incidents around Scottish football grounds but one of the more unusual objects thrown onto the park came at Tynecastle during the visit of Hibernian in April. Nobody has ever worked out why someone took the tropical fruit into the stadium.

Manager sent off for tripping throw-in taker

East Fife boss Darren Young was sent packing for tripping Airdrie’s Scott Robertson as he tried to take a throw-in.

Managers coming out of retirement

Barry Smith was forced to play for Brechin at the age of 45 – eight years after quitting playing. The former Dundee captain faced Forfar in the Betfred Cup amid an injury crisis and delay in signing several players. However, he was soon upstaged by Clyde manager Danny Lennon, who played in a Glasgow Cup tie against Celtic Colts at the age of 50.

Singer gets into war of words with St Johnstone manager

Tommy Wright accused singer-songwriter Amy Macdonald of being “petty and ill-informed” after making claims surrounding the departure of her husband, full-back Richard Foster, from McDiarmid Park. The multi-million-selling artist countered that Wright had been guilty of “casual misogyny” after describing her as “Mrs Foster”.

Albanian president becomes a Celtic fan

Albanians looking for Twitter updates on the running of their country will be very familiar with the latest fortunes of the Scottish champions after their president, Ilir Meta, began a persistent and public love affair with the Hoops. His passion for Celtic even extended to wishing back-up left-back Greg Taylor a happy birthday.