I was strapping myself into the rowing machine up in the Ormonde Hotel gym last Friday night when I felt a sharp pain in my toe.
As I unlaced my shoe I presumed a needle or pin had somehow found its way into my stocking. But no, the cause of the problem was a wasp, who was obviously not too pleased when my foot invaded his new home.
He, or maybe it was a she, had managed to give me a nasty sting, which soon swelled up, leaving me with a sore and tender foot for a couple of days.
I got to thinking what would happen if a wasp got into one of our hurlers’ boots as they laced up for the All-Ireland final? Can you imagine the headlines?
“Kilkenny's bid for four-in-a-row ruined by angry wasp as star hurler cries off minutes before taking the field.”
I'll be having a careful look in my runners before putting them on again and I'd advise the lads to do the same.
This got me thinking about unusual sports injuries. The former Manchester United goalkeeper, Alex Stepney, broke his jaw during a game. No, it wasn't from a kick, he was yelling so hard that he fractured his own jaw.
Stepney wasn't the only goalkeeper in Manchester to have an unusual injury. The pony-tailed David Seaman over at Manchester City once pulled a muscle in his back while reaching for his television remote control.
I'm not sure if goalkeepers are especially accident prone, but it's beginning to look that way. French 'keeper Lionel Letizi liked to relax in the evening with a game of Scrabble. He played for Glasgow Rangers for a couple of seasons and you'd imagine the most dangerous thing that could happen to him would be lining out in a Celtic/Rangers derby. It was actually his love of Scrabble that caused him problems, as he managed to pull a back muscle reaching for a Scrabble piece he had dropped.
We're all familiar with the over the top celebrations that go on every time a goal is scored. Paulo Diego, a midfielder with Swiss side Servette FC, decided to celebrate scoring a goal by jumping into the crowd. His wedding ring had other plans, though, and caught on a fence. The force ripped off the top of Diogo’s finger and, to add insult to injury, the referee booked him for excessive celebrations.
Svein Grondalen was a Norwegian international during the seventies noted for his very physical style of play. He met his match while on a training run before an international. He ran headlong into a moose and the injury forced him to withdraw from the match.
We're used to seeing the advice to “Read instructions carefully” when taking medicines. Brazilian soccer international Ramalho didn't heed this advice and ended up bedridden for three days. He had been prescribed suppositories and proceeded to swallow them instead of shoving them you know where.
And finally there was the case of Stuttgart footballer Sascha Bender who suffered a serious facial injury after being punched by a team-mate, Christian Okpala. What was the cause of the punch up? Christian said that Bender “permanently provoked me by farting all the time.”
So for the next couple of weeks let's keep our hurlers away from the remote control, the Scrabble, suppositories, flatulent friends and make sure the wedding rings are left in the safe.
Meanwhile on the radio.....
I headed over to Langtons with Kilkenny City's Jimmy Rhatigan last Monday. Newstalk was in town and broadcasting a sports programme from the bar. Not really sure what I was doing there, but I had a couple of anecdotes about the early days of EMFA/Kilkenny City prepared, though it looks as if I'll have to save them for my memoirs.
I was ready to relate the unusual circumstances that led to me conceding the first ever penalty for the club or my efforts to get a set of jerseys from Leeds United. No luck there of course. Leeds are not renowned for giving anything away for nothing, as long term fan Eoin Byrne will confirm.
The programme concentrated mainly on the upcoming All-Ireland, but the most entertaining guest on the night was Willie Duggan.
He told the story of lining up in the tunnel at Twickenham before the match against England in 1982. Willie was having the last few drags on his cigarette and handed it to the referee to hold. The unfortunate and inexperienced ref was left to walk down the tunnel with cigarette in hand. Now that's something I'd like to see on YouTube.
