What Happens When There is a Pitch Invasion in Football?

Some people are just desperate for attention, aren’t they?

Stick them in a stadium with 50,000 others and they just can’t resist going for their 15 seconds of fame.

We’ve all got a mate like this. Usually called Bazza or Wazza or something daft like that. He thinks he’s hilarious.

A lot of footy fans think pitch invasions are funny – hey, pitch invaders usually get a cheer – others find them annoying, but they always cause a bit of a stir, especially if they manage to dodge the stewards for long enough or make someone fall over.

They aren’t always welcome though; some have even been taken out by angry players.

The reaction to them probably depends on when the pitch invader decides to make their move, and what they do when they make it onto the field.

Perhaps there is some sort of pitch invader etiquette that says a run around at half time or after the final whistle is ok since it doesn’t interrupt the game, but jumping the barrier and messing with the match itself is douchebag behaviour?

We don’t know; we haven’t been able to find a pitch invaders Facebook group or online forum to ask, and Wazza isn’t answering his phone.

People do have a lot of questions about pitch invasions though, and we have answered many of them below.

What is a Pitch Invasion?

Any time someone sets foot on the football pitch who is not supposed to be there, it is classed as a pitch invasion.

Whether that is one person, a few people, or the whole stand, or even an animal, it’s an invasion.

It’s not a new phenomenon; pitch invasions have been happening for as long as professional football has been played.

In the past, invasions have been carried out by fans wearing football kits, sporting business logos, people wearing funny costumes, and even people wearing nothing at all.

Technically this last category would be known as a streaker but they are pitch invaders too. Very cold ones judging by some of the footage…

It’s not an easy thing to do as even in the lower leagues clubs have stewards watching the crowd who are there precisely to keep order and stop these things happening.

There is usually a decent sized area between the front row of seats and the advertising hoardings that surround the pitch, then space again after that barrier, so many invasion attempts are halted before they even get going.

Pitch invaders either need to catch a steward napping, create a diversion, or be extra slippery at speed.

That said, pitch invaders aren’t always human, many animals have invaded football pitches.

One particularly memorable event being when a pine marten (think of a weasel) gave everyone the run-around for 5 minutes during a Swiss League game between FC Thun and FC Zurich. It even bit defender Loris Benito who dived at the animal and picked it up.

So, be it human or animal, if it’s on the pitch and it shouldn’t be, then it’s a pitch invasion.

Why do People do it?

Usually, when an individual or maybe two people invade the pitch, it’s for the bants.

It’s so that they can return to their mates a hero a few hours later and be called a legend in the pub. They probably get hold of a recording of their achievement and keep it in a drawer to show their grandchildren when they’re older.

That’s why they wave their arms around and jump up and down grinning like loons as they do it.

Don’t mistake our sarcasm as judgement, we love a pitch invasion as much as the next fan. You’ll hear us giving our best “Wheyyyy!” every time a steward dives for and misses a pitch invader.

And that’s exactly why they do it. For attention, because they might end up on the tele, and because it’s kind of funny.

Occasionally they are promoting a cause or a product, or staging a misguided one-man protest, or occasionally even trying to impress a lover, but mostly it’s for a laugh.

If we are talking about a crowd of people invading the pitch though, then it will almost always come down to two things:

• Celebrations after winning something or avoiding relegation
• For any number of reasons

Football fans are an emotional bunch, so when their team achieves something that they never thought possible, or heroically defies the odds to retain their place in a league, the supporters can absolutely lose their minds.

They will jump around and wave flags and scarfs, and enjoy the moment with each other and sometimes with their team as well.

On the other hand, large groups have also invaded the pitch to make a stand about the state their club is in or the way it is being run.

So when they are properly organised between large numbers of people, pitch invasions can also be used for change, or to raise awareness.

Do Pitch Invaders Get into Trouble?

Well usually, around 15-30 seconds after they jump the barrier, they are rather rudely and roughly introduced to the floor.

Stewards or law enforcement or a mixture of both will pin them down then carry them off the pitch and into the back office.

That sounds much more sinister than it is.

In reality, pitch invaders will have their details taken and then be fined, maybe even criminally charged since the act was made illegal in 1991, and then probably banned from the ground as well. So anyone thinking of giving it a go might want to think again if they hope to watch any more games that season.

It’s actually the club’s responsibility to prevent pitch invasions, so in some circumstances they can even be fined for allowing it to happen; if the invasion interferes with play for example, or causes any violence.

It happens more than you might think too, but we don’t always see it as TV stations do their best not to show smaller invasions when they occur. This is to deter attention seekers from doing it in the first place.

Of course, if a pitch invasion is for celebratory reasons then it’s usually unrealistic for anyone to be punished.

Think about when Stoke got promoted to the Premier League in 2008. You couldn’t see a single blade of grass such were the numbers of people on the pitch. You try getting the details of all 20,000 of them and running the paperwork; it’s not going to happen.

It would make you a proper misery guts if you tried, too.

Famous Pitch Invasions

Honestly, pitch invasions are so common it would be impossible (and boring) to try and list them all.

Some though, are much more worthy of note than others, whether that be because they turned ugly, come with interesting stories, or are just downright hilarious.

Here are a selection of our favourites that people remember seem to remember.

Blackpool Fans Protest About Owner

In 2015 Blackpool fans stormed the pitch at half time in a clash with Huddersfield to protest against the club’s owner, Karl Oyston, who by all accounts sounds like an odious little man.

The supporters stood in the centre circle with placards demanding he step down after years of ‘illegitimate stripping’ of the club, during which over £20 million was paid by Blackpool FC to companies owned by Oyston, while little to no funding was given to the club itself, which was in desperate need of investment.

He also called a disabled fan ‘retarded’ via text message and told him to ‘enjoy his special needs day out’. Top bloke, eh?

Satisfyingly, one of the pitch invaders on this occasion was in his motorised scooter, showing Mr. Oyston exactly what he thought of those comments.

After an hour’s standoff, the match was called off, with Blackpool FC given a 3 point deduction and a £50,000 fine as a punishment.

The match was settled 0-0 without a replay, which was the score at the time of the invasion, and also since Huddersfield were safe from relegation and Blackpool were already confirmed as being relegated.

The protest worked though; Karl Oyston stepped down that same year, and presumably went back to live in a slimy little hole.

Karl Power in Man Utd Team Photo

Someone buy this guy a drink.

Back in 2001, Man Utd were taking on Bayern Munich in the second leg of a quarter final Champion League clash.

They had stolen the trophy from Bayern just two years earlier to complete their famous treble in 1999, so it’s fair to say the atmosphere was pretty serious.

While what happened next was technically a pitch invasion, it didn’t look like one.

Karl Power and his mates planned the stunt to perfection, first blagging their way into the building as a TV crew, before spotting an opening to get onto the side of the pitch, and making their way around to behind one of the goals where they watched the warm up with the other ‘press’.

Karl already knew which kit United would be wearing thanks to a stake out of their hotel, and he was wearing it under his clothes.

As the players shook hands with the Bayern squad, Karl whipped off his press outfit and jogged over for the team photo, looking just like one of the team.

Gary Neville almost scuppered things by pointing at him and asking “Who’s that?”, to which Karl replied,

“Shut up Gary, you grass, I’m doing this for Cantona.”

He did have Cantona and a number 7 printed on the back of his shirt to be fair.

At this point the game was up, and Roy Keane looked ready to batter him as well, so Karl made his way back off the pitch and his epic pitch invasion was complete.

It became something of a hobby for him, he did it a good number of times afterwards at other grounds and in other sports too – he even ended up as Tim Henman’s warm up player at Wimbledon on one occasion – but he was ultimately banned from Old Trafford for life after recreating his stunt with 10 other fake players in 2003.

Scotland beat England 2-1 at Wembley

Most big pitch invasions happen because of something momentous, but for Scottish fans, simply winning against England at Wembley was enough to stir them forwards.

To be fair to them, they don’t often have cause to celebrate anything do they?

Ok, this isn’t strictly true, it won them the British Home Championship (an annual competition between England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland that was abolished in 1984), but still – it’s not the World Cup is it?

This was in 1977, and the Scottish national side hadn’t beaten and English team for a whole decade until this game, so when the final whistle blew the Tartan Army invaded the pitch in their thousands, swarming around their team in a joyous furore.

Sadly though, the crowd then let themselves down by breaking the crossbar from the goal posts, gauging chunks out of the pitch, and tearing off the goal nets. Not to mention all of the other less obvious damage.

There were 289 arrests made on the day for drunk and disorderly behaviour, and fences were soon erected at football ground around the country to stop this sort of thing happening again.

It’s nice they enjoyed the moment though, because Scotland didn’t beat England again for another 22 years.

They Think it’s All Over – it is Now!

Kenneth Wolstenholme will be forever remembered for his iconic quote in the final moments of England’s 1966 World Cup win against West Germany.

It was 3:2 to England in the dying moments of extra time, and what with all of the noise and the atmosphere some England fans thought they heard the final whistle, and rushed the pitch.

Others joined in, probably more out of crazy excitement than because they thought they heard it too, but in truth, the game was still in play.

Geoff Hurst was bearing down on goal looking for his famous hat-trick, just as those first supports crossed the barrier and streamed onto the pitch.

That was when Wolstenholme, commenting on the match live, uttered the legendary phrase:

“Some people are on the pitch. They think it’s all over – it is now!”

Of course, in the middle of his sentence, Hurst blasted the ball into the back of the net to make it 4:2, eliminating any chance of West Germany pulling it back, and the game ended shortly afterwards.

Without that pitch invasion, one of the most repeated quotes in English football would never have been uttered.

Ticketless Bolton Fan Sneaks onto the Pitch

In 2012, at the end of the season, Bolton Wanderers needed a win away against Stoke in order to avoid relegation to the Championship.

It was the final day of the season so emotions were high and demand for tickets was higher still.

One Bolton fan, known only as David, hadn’t managed to get hold of a ticket but made the journey anyway in the hope of picking one up outside the stadium.

He had no luck, however, so desperate times called for desperate measures.

He found a smoking area for fans who had legitimately gained access to the ground, snuck in through an access gate, and headed back into the stadium with them.

He didn’t have a seat of course, so had to scan the terraces for one that might be empty without alerting the stewards.

He found only one option, but it was right next to the dugout, and also right next to Bolton full back Ricardo Gardner who was watching from the side lines due to injury.

Not only did David nab the seat, but he leaned over to Gardner and explained what he had done, asking for his help should a steward start asking questions.

They agreed that David would claim to be a club official if anyone asked to see his non-existent ticket, which they inevitably did, and Gardner was as good as his word, backing David up and fooling the steward who left them alone.

David watched the rest of the game, but his next problem was getting out of the stadium alive, since he was surrounded by Stoke fans who had all seen what he had done.

So instead of leaving at the end of the match, he went down onto the pitch with the rest of the ‘club officials’ to commiserate the team (Bolton lost and were therefore relegated) and get away from the Stoke fans.

Of course, since he was a club official, no one tried to stop him, and there is footage of David going around the team and shaking hands with everyone on the field.

It was a pitch invasion that no one had any idea was happening – he even went back down the tunnel with the team, slipped away from them before he got into trouble, and found an exit to sneak out of before making his way home.

Protests About Glazer Ownership of Man Utd

This one actually happened before the match had started, but it went on so long that is caused the game between United and Liverpool that was supposed to happening later that day to be postponed.

A planned peaceful protest against the Glazer family’s ownership of the club was taking place. Supporters had long been frustrated with the ownership and the news that they had signed up for the disastrous and quickly defunct European Super League was the last straw.

Thousands gathered outside the ground and yet more were protesting outside the Lowry Hotel in Manchester where the teams stay the night before games, but a large group at the stadium managed the break through the barriers around the ground and entered the stadium through the Munich Tunnel.

Flares and firecrackers were lit, some damage was done, and staff had to lock themselves into their offices as the stadium was locked down so that control could be regained.

Some supporters even gained access to the room where Sky pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher were getting ready for the game, and the two had conversations with the protestors, later saying that they fully understood and agreed (in the case of Neville) with their frustrations.

Less agreeable was the violence done to two police officers who ended up requiring treatment as small numbers of the crowd through bottles etc.

There was even a rumour that staff sympathetic to the protester’s cause deliberately opened the gate for them, but these were never corroborated.

Nevertheless, the Glazers decided to put the club up for sale about 18 months after the incident, so it seems that, after almost 20 years of being asked to leave, they finally started to take notice.