Football match with oversight

Published on June 6th, 2007

Couldn’t resist taking this photo.

Watched the Euro 2008 qualifier, today, Finland v. Belgium – and the match was halted while the grounds crew worked at chasing this beautiful owl off the field. He had about a four-foot wingspread and was afraid of nothing.

I froze the image onscreen while he was perched on the Belgian goal – glaring back at the cameraman – and took this photo.

Eventually, he settled on a crowd barrier back off the field – and watched the rest of the match. Mike Riley was the head of the English officiating crew and I was surprised he didn’t show the owl a yellow card for delay of game.

Oh, yeah. Easy win for the Finns.

15 users responded in " Football match with oversight "

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# 1 edwinrogers said, on June 6th, 2007 at 12:01 pm

The owl was probably sick, or a lost pet. Wild owls are nocturnal and avoid humans.

# 2 KVolk said, on June 6th, 2007 at 12:04 pm

He obviously want a birds eye view of the game.

# 3 Angel H. Wong said, on June 6th, 2007 at 12:20 pm

If this owl were in an American football game some idiot either fan or security would have shot it down.

# 4 Improbus said, on June 6th, 2007 at 12:21 pm

He obviously thought the game was a hoot.

# 5 Gig said, on June 6th, 2007 at 12:33 pm

Oh, you mean soccer. Silly foreign people.

He could have been safe in the goal. The ball hardly ever goes there.

# 6 BubbaRay said, on June 6th, 2007 at 12:34 pm

Thank goodness it wasn’t baseball, this owl would be dead:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81oh1Wd9U_4

# 7 Tom said, on June 6th, 2007 at 12:35 pm

Thats a real classy statement Wong. Whenever Association Football is mentioned in a blog, you can always count on some tool taking a shot at American Football. Congratulations on winning todays award for Predictability.

# 8 mark said, on June 6th, 2007 at 2:23 pm

4. Stupid joke, but made me laugh.

# 9 Named said, on June 6th, 2007 at 4:21 pm

Your comments aside… he’s correct!

# 10 Jägermeister said, on June 6th, 2007 at 5:29 pm

Either that or he’d been bored to death.

# 11 H.Potter said, on June 6th, 2007 at 6:35 pm

Silly muggles, we sent that owl from Hogwart’s. Quidditch excludes those who can’t fly on a broom, and we at the school are looking to expand our extra-curricular activities.

We promise not to use Mercury’s Shoes.

# 12 tazer02 said, on June 6th, 2007 at 10:26 pm

#1
Don’t know about that, but the owl was a northern eagle owl (Bubo bubo) and it’s a protected species in Finland. Reputedly it’s been living in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium for a while.

# 13 joshua said, on June 6th, 2007 at 11:05 pm

I love the look on that Owls face……it definatly says…**don’t mess with me mate**.

England won…thanks to Beckham, guess he isn’t too old for the team after all. England is still 4th., but the pressure is now more managable.

# 14 Named said, on June 7th, 2007 at 9:20 am

13,

England is shit. Second Choice coach, second choice players… Not since 96 Euro have they fielded a complete team.

# 15 joshua said, on June 7th, 2007 at 3:24 pm

Eideard….there’s a whole 7 minute video, in Finnish and Belgian on the Owl’s adventure. It’s great, people and players were cheering the bird on.
I read where the owl has been living in the stadium for around 4 months, guess he was pissed at so many univited guests in his home…….

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