A football match in France took a strange turn when a hungry wild boar burst onto the field and sent players and spectators running.
The winter of 1922 had been severe in the Swiss Alps, driving wild animals down toward towns and lowlands in search of food. Wolves, boars, and other animals had become such a problem that authorities were offering bounties for their capture or death.
At Besançon, the crisis wandered straight into a football game. A tusked boar charged the players, knocked several of them down, and then went after the football, apparently mistaking it for food.
The match ended in panic, a revolver shot, and finally a banquet, with the unfortunate boar served to the very players whose game it had interrupted.
Hungry Wild Boar Breaks Up Football Game Seeking Food
FRANCE. — Winter in the Swiss Alps has been so severe that scores of wild boars, wolves, and other animals have been driven to the towns and lowlands in search of food.
The authorities are offering bounties for the death or capture.
Recently several thousand persons at a football match at Besançon, near the western frontier, were thrown into a panic by the sudden appearance on the field of a huge tusked boar. Goaded by hunger, the animal charged the players and bowled several of them over. It then turned its attention to the football, apparently mistaking it for something edible.
The boar ran wildly about the field, making finally for the spectators, who took to their heels.
A gendarme rushed upon the field and ended the animal’s escapade with a revolver shot.
The boar, which weighed 120 pounds, was later served to the players and their guests at a banquet in the town hall, the referee meanwhile having declared the game a draw.
Source: Evening Star. Washington, D.C. March 15, 1922.
