Chelsea's Stamford the Lion waves to the crowd. Photo /AP Sang Tan
Chelsea's Stamford the Lion waves to the crowd. Photo /AP Sang Tan
Club mascots returned to the headlines this week, thanks to the antics of Watford's Harry the Hornet.
Harry, real name Gareth Evens, spoke for many football fans with his humorous mocking of an opposing player, who had been booked for diving.
Headline maker Harry the Hornet from Watford with Manchester United star Wayne Rooney. Photo / AP Tim Ireland
The player - Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha -wasn't amused, initially. Nor was his manager, big Sam Allardyce, after Harry dived in front of Zaha, following the English Premier League match.
The incident has brought back memories of mascot mayhem. They include the time Wellington rugby's Leo the Lion was banished to the Eden Park stands, even though he had done nothing wrong.
Auckland claimed it was trying to avoid trouble at the 1999 NPC final, after their mascot - the Seagull - injured a knee in a scrap with North Harbour's Harbour Master in the semifinal.
Leo, real name Nathan Lewer, said: "They've identified me as part of the Lions' game plan and are keen to shut me down."
One of the men behind Otago rugby's Shaq the Cat, a union staffer, reportedly got the boot many years ago for miming a sex act before the Carisbrook crowd. Apparently he swung the Cat's tail inappropriately.
Chelsea's Stamford the Lion waves to the crowd. Photo /AP Sang Tan
The Daily Mail has dipped into the world of mascots, recounting past incidents and stories, including one about a "prominent club on the south coast" discussing how their mascot might liven up to emulate Harry the Hornet's popularity.
It also recalled the formative times for mascots and the amazing influence this had on one of the world's great football clubs.
In the 1890s, a club called Newton Heath FC had a mascot named Major, a St Bernard owned by the club's full-back and captain, Harry Stafford. Major would lap the pitch with a collection box, until one day in 190,1 he went missing.
Stafford found his dog in the possession of a local brewer named John Henry Davies, who was persuaded by the defender to invest 500 pounds in his cash-strapped club. In return, Davies was given the dog for his daughter.
Davies was quickly appointed chairman and renamed the club Manchester United.
"Mascots [nowadays] tend to be folk in costumes, who can earn upwards of £100 for dancing their matchday jig. Others are rotated volunteers, drawn in from around their club," the Mail reported.
Mascot anecdotes include.-
1) Swansea's Cyril the Swan got into a 2001 row with Millwall's Zampa the Lion during a half-time penalty dispute, which culminated in Cyril pulling off his opponent's head and booting it across the pitch.
Inside the 2.7m swan was Eddie Donne, a member of the club's groundstaff. He had told Zampa, "Don't f*** with the Swans", and evidently the message was ignored. The club were fined £1000.
2) Cyril the Swan was also investigated by police over a tussle with a 46-year-old woman dressed as a dog at a mascots race in Cambridgeshire.
3) Julian Alsop, a former Swansea striker, is understood to have worn the Cyril the Swan outfit for a game, while he was suspended.
4) Torquay's Gilbert the Gull challenged his club's own fans to a fight, after a defeat to Grimsby in 2014.
5) Bury's Robbie the Bobby was sent off three times in a season. He had mooned Stoke fans, ripped the ears off a Peterborough rabbit mascot and fought with Cardiff's Bartley the Bluebird.
Robbie the Bobby from Bury was repeatedly sent off, including for ripping the ears off an opposing mascot. Picture / Paul Atherton AllSportUK
6) Burnley's mascot, Bertie the Bee, was dismissed from the side-lines during a win over Queen's Park Rangers in 2013, because he handed the linesman a pair of glasses.
7) Aston Villa sacked Hercules the Lion in 1998. The mascot is reported to have hugged and kissed Miss Aston Villa Debbie Robins.
Arsenal's Gunnersaurus Rex gets to hug legendary manager Arsene Wenger. Photo/AP Kirsty Wigglesworth
Mascots don't always go bad, of course. Stoke's Pottermus was voted the club's seventh best player in 1998, Leicester's Filbert Fox signed a two-year boot deal with Puma in April, Arsenal's Gunnersaurus Rex gets to hug manager Arsene Wenger and Liverpool's Mighty Red has his own children's book.
