Exorcism ritual;player drowns.

[Badger]

Initial thought was what a ****ing idiot.

 

 

Int Football - Footballer drowns in exorcism

Eurosport - Wed, 08 Oct 10:19:00 2008

 

A Zimbabwean soccer player drowned in a crocodile infested river during a ritual to cleanse his team of bad spirits before a match.

 

 

State newspaper The Chronicle quoted unnamed sources as saying about 16 players from second division side Midland Portland Cement were told to swim in the Zambezi river in the resort town of Victoria Falls ahead of a soccer match on Sunday.

 

"The technical team told every player to get into the river so that they could be cleansed of bad spirits," it said.

 

The paper quoted local police commander Peter Rodzi as saying that after the swim, the other players had noticed that one of the team was missing.

 

"The area where the team was swimming is prohibited as the current is strong. The river is also infested with crocodiles and hippos," said Rodzi.

 

Belief in the power of spirits is widespread in Zimbabwe and many African countries.

 

Reuters

 

On reflection perhaps it is something Rupert might consider introducing-posssibly for to get the high earners off the books-or even Cappello at international level.

[dubai_phil]

You could be on to something here. While your story is tragic, we just had something similarly weird here involving a full international player.

 

Been saying it for a while - bring back the White Witch!

 

http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=474451&archisec=NAT

 

Maybe the end of season fancy dress idea has come early? Could we attract an extra few fans by having a Coven Corner in the ground??? hmmm