By Chris Wright

With all this talk of ballboys getting kicked in the spleen and such, we thought we’d have a little look at some of the best ballboy-related foul-ups to have ever graced the game…

1. Referee awards goal scored by ballboy in Brazilian cup match…

This unbelievable ricket occurred during the Brazilian FPF Cup fixture between Santacruzense and Atletico Sorocaba back in 2006.

With one minute to go, a Santacruzense player shot wide only for the cheeky ballboy to roll the ball over the line. The female referee, Silvia Regina de Oliveira, awarded the goal – a 90th minute equaliser – and Santacruzense escaped with a 1-1 draw. Not surprisingly, De Oliveira and her linesmen were duly investigated and suspended.

2. FC Sion’s Geoffrey Serey Die slaps ballboy for not giving ball back quick enough…

The Swiss Football League examined Serey Die’s case and, having found that the maximum punishment they could dish out (a four-game ban) wasn’t severe enough, referred it to their Disciplinary Commission. The FC Sion striker was subsequently banned for eight matches.

3. Ballboy bashed square in the face thanks to unfortunate ricochet during Queensland league game…

4. Ballboy steps in to deny Bologna’s Beppe Savoldi a certain goal against Ascoli, 1975…

The story goes that Savoldi took the ballboy’s intrusion with a pinch of salt as Bologna were already 3-1 up at the time, though the late Giorgio Chinaglia was less forgiving, telling the lad: “I would have strangled you.”

5. Napoli ‘keeper Morgan De Sanctis slaps hesitant Atalanta ballboy across the face…

6. Serial offender Morgan De Sanctis apologises for shouting at a (different) ballboy by giving him a big kiss and the shirt off his back…

Whatever you do, DO NOT waste Morgan De Sanctis’ time.

7. Boca Unidos ‘keeper Gaston Sessa hoofs ball into ballboy’s face from point-blank range…

Sessa clouted the ball into the poor kid’s face after taking umbrage at how long it took the ball to be returned to him for a goal-kick – despite the ballboy having absolutely nothing to do with the delay.

8. Tottenham ballboy encroaches onto pitch and buggers it up for everybody…

Cue worried looks of “W-w-what the hell do we do now?” all round. Here’s the exact same thing happening in a game between Dnipro and Tavria.

9. Ballboy saves a certain goal during Brazilian amateur game then legs it…

Over in the Brazilian Campeonato Sergipano (local league) match between Guarany and Sergipe, the home ‘keeper is left stranded after coming up for a last-minute corner only for Sergipe’s swift counter-attack to be thwarted by some heroic last-gasp defending.

10. Tottenham ballboy takes his job title far too literally against Famagusta…

Boom! Nutshot!

11. Santos’ Adriano violently poleaxes ballboy during  Copa Libertadores game against Corinthians…

According to Brazilian reports, the ballboy opted against making an official complaint about Adriano though, let’s face it, he had fairly good grounds to.

12. Extremely well-trained Estonian ballboys…

That’s what we like to see; a bit of total dedication to the cause!

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