Mario Balotelli, Ashley Cole, Joey Barton: why kids should beware!
Mario Balotelli, Ashley Cole, Joey Barton: sports kids, beware!
The kids are alright? Not on these occasions they weren't…
Mario Balotelli is embracing British culture and has taken up darts - unfortunately a photo of Mancini with a suitcase pinned to the wall isn't enough and last week Mario decided he needed some moving targets.
Who better than the Manchester City youth team? Balotelli was caught launching darts out of a first floor window at the youths, although unsurprisingly he failed to hit the target.
His reasoning for this latest act of madness? Balotelli was 'bored'. Or he was missing his dart 'board'. We're not sure.
Following the Italian striker's latest reprimand, we look back on other sportsmen who've had regrettable run-ins with wide-eyed youths...
Mickey Thomas and his Mickey Mouse bank notes
In 1993, "the Welsh George Best" was convicted of passing on fake £10 and £20 notes to Wrexham trainees, his club at the time.
He went to prison for 18 months, but not before asking reporters at his trial if they had change of a tenner for the pay phone.
When Roy Keane later signed a record contract with Thomas' old club Manchester United, the long-haird winger come out with, "So Roy Keane's on 50 grand a week? I was on 50 grand a week until the police found my printing machine."
Ashley Cole shoots a student
The day before Chelsea's recent Champion's League trip to Copenhagen, ex-Gunner turned gunner Ashley Cole was preparing as any good pro would – by 'larking around' with an air-rifle and accidentally shooting a 21-year-old intern from five feet away in the training ground dressing rooms.
A source told the News of the World: '"The gun went off with a loud pop and Tom screamed as this lead pellet hit him in the side. It went through his clothing and into his flesh."
And now, for your gaming pleasure, recreate these scenes of training ground warfare with the game:
Van Persie's a hit with youth club
On returning to Holland to visit his youth club SBV Excelsior, who were unveiling a stand in his name, Robin Van Persie passed on words of wisdom to the assembled kiddies. Shame he didn't say, "When you finish, try not to hit the post."
Joey Barton: enough said
Dressed as Jimmy Savile at the 2004 Manchester City Christmas do, Barton roamed the party venue deliberately scorching his team-mate's fancy dress costumes with a cigar. In retallitaion, 18-year-old Man City reserve Jamie Tandy had a go at setting fire to Barton's shirt with a lighter.
In a scene we can only liken to Arnie's bar room brawl in Terminator 2, Barton sunk his cigar into Tandy's eye, giving him a scar-for-life but avoiding any permanent damage to his sight. Barton was hit with a fine of three week's wages, £60,000.
Barton was later sent home from a Man City tour of Thailand by boss Stuart Pearce, in 2006, after assaulting a 15-year-old Everton fan, and a year later he broke the teeth of a 16-year-old in Liverpool.
Henman causes a racket
If you're going to volunteer to sit next the net at Wimbledon, odds-are that one day you're going to get hit.
In 1995 Tim Henman was at the start of his career. He'd played Sampras in the singles and made a bit of a name for himself, and now he was in the doubles with Jeremy Bates. On dropping a point in a tie-break Henman swung at the ball in fury, sending it into 16-year-old Caroline Hall's head at 92 mph.
The match was called off as boos rained down from the Pimms-ed up crowd and Henmann became the first ever player to be disqualified from Wimbledon.