Sea lion invasion disrupts junior sports games in Dunedin

Junior football players from Grants Braes and Dunedin Technical wait patiently for a special guest to make its way to the sideline. Photo / Bradley Scott

You expect the odd hold-up these days. Maybe the oranges are not quite ready at halftime.

Perhaps you have to stop for gas on the way to the game.

Or little Johnny has forgotten his boots again.

And, of course, there is always a chance a sea lion will shuffle its way over the dunes at Ocean Grove and set up camp on the football field.

Wait ... what?

Yep. That is exactly what happened.

Ex-Otago cricketer Bradley Scott snapped a picture as evidence of the pitch invasion by an unregistered player.

The sea lion disrupted several junior games on Saturday morning until it could be lured to the sideline.

No small children were offered as bait but rather a branch was used to coax the beast off the hallowed turf.

Apparently said sea lion is part of a new wave of footballers who would rather balance the ball on their nose than swat it towards the goal.

The surprise substitution brought out the best in the gathered dads, who all immediately transformed into comedians.

''It is a bit hard to come up with one-liners about a sea lion,'' Scott said.

''One other dad said there was a fur amount of spectators there.''