Club physios and doctors must hear the best excuses going for player injuries. Portsmouth and Australian footballer John Durnin recently turned up in the injury room with a sick note after he fell out of a golf buggy. Trevor Morley, (left) formerly of West Ham and now of Manchester City, also caused a stir with his excuse that his wife had stabbed him.

In a very recent and public controversy, jockey Frankie Detorri breached the rules regarding protection gear because of an ongoing and painful dose of the "Johnny Giles". The strap that held the gear in place unfortunately rubbed him up the wrong way.

More seriously, Cameroon international Mark Vivien Foe ended up in bed with malaria while the Ivory Coast's Samassi Abou was similarly inflicted.

Finally, last year Irish athlete Noel Berkeley had his season prematurely shortened when he cut the top of his two fingers with an electric hedge-cutter while working as a landscape gardener.