True, this story relates to football of the American kind but our excuse for including it is that it could put the Bosman Ruling in the ha'penny place when it comes to the impact on football of the association kind - i.e. you might never see inflatable fruit at a "soccer" match again. Ready? According to a law suit filed last week against Ohio State University football mascot Angela Anderson, dressed up as Herky the Hawk, was "struck violently in the back of the head by an inflatable or hard foam object" thrown by a member of her team's band during a match. The object in question? A toy banana.

Anderson is, according to Ananova, looking for damages in excess of $25,000 for "severe personal injuries, pain and suffering, emotional and psychological trauma, and incurred substantial medical expenses". "For some reason," said Anderson's lawyer Richard Schulte, "my client has a vertebra that was broken because she was hit in the head by a banana. It's not reasonable to strike a person with a banana so hard that they snap a vertebra." Hmm. Herky the Hawk must have a very soft spine. Allegedly.