Quote Originally Posted by 60YearsAPie View Post
Belenenses were forced to start their Portuguese top-flight game against Benfica yesterday with only nine men! An outbreak of Covid had left them with 17 players unavailable. They were 7-0 down at half-time and started the second-half with only seven players, due to two injuries. A further player went down injured soon after the re-start, leaving them with six players on the pitch and the game was then abandoned.

When Notts beat Burslem Port Vale 10-0 in a league game at Trent Bridge in 1895, the visitors turned up with only 8 players. Makes you wonder why the Magpies only scored 10!
There was a league game we played at Preston in 1891 in heavy snow and extreme cold. The conditions were so bad that five Notts players refused to play on at 0-4 down and walked off. Notts had already lost another player following a scuffle with a Preston player. The five-man Notts conceded two further goals. Preston protested about the behaviour of the Notts players and the League ordered that Notts and Preston should play a friendly, with Preston receiving half of the gate money and the rest being split between Notts and the Football League.