Footage shows slapstick scenes as ‘Steve the Squirrel’ evaded captureSquirrel stops play at Hull City vs Bristol City game
It’s usually a streaker, an angry pitch invader or a health emergency that stops play at the football but Bristol City’s league match against Hull City today was halted not once, but twice – by a squirrel.
The bushy-tailed disrupter somehow made it onto the pitch around ten minutes into the second half of City’s game away at Hull City in the EFL Championship, and initially his presence was enjoyed as a nice distraction by home and away fans, as hapless stewards fell over trying to catch it.
But the squirrel’s double invasion appeared to have had a direct effect on the game. When the squirrel first appeared, Bristol City had just scored to go 3-1 up in the battle of the two sides chasing the promotion play-off places, and had all the momentum in the game.
But two lengthy stoppages as the squirrel was caught, escaped and caught again, allowed Hull City’s players to regroup, halt Bristol City’s flow and get back into the game.
Hull City pulled a goal back with 12 minutes to go, and as they pressed for an equalising goal, were handed a huge boost when the referee added on a whopping ten extra minutes – not injury time but squirrel time, to make up for the time lost earlier.
The squirrel first appeared a few minutes after Emil Riis put Bristol City 3-1 up, and the little critter made its way across the pitch and – as if trying to teach Hull’s players what they should be aiming at – scampered into Bristol City’s goal, much to the bemusement of City keeper Radek Vitek.
A squirrel on the pitch at Hull City v Bristol City(Image: Greig Cowie/Shutterstock)
Shutterstock photographer Greig Cowie reported that the Bristol City fans initially ‘adopted’ the squirrel, and named it Steve as it raced around that end of the pitch. The squirrel clambered through the net and raced along the advertising screens, with stewards in hot pursuit – who then began falling over themselves in their attempts to capture it.
Hull City’s MKM Stadium is surrounded by parkland and sports pitches close to the city’s main hospital, so squirrels aren’t unexpected in the area, but the stadium itself is an enclosed bowl, so questions should be asked about how the creature managed to get through the turnstiles, across the concourse, past the tiers of seating, over the barriers, over the advertising screens and onto the pitch.
Play initially resumed on the 57th minute, with Bristol Live’s City reporter Dan Carter immediately noticing the actual football had been disrupted.
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“I do wonder if that stoppage has impacted the flow of this one slightly,” he reported at the time, noting that City were no longer in the ascendancy on the pitch.
Two minutes later, the squirrel escaped whatever shackles the Hull stewards had cobbled together for it, and was back on the pitch at the other end, again giving the stewards the run-around.
There were slapstick scenes as the two stewards again tried to dive on the squirrel with coats and blankets – and Hull City’s keeper Ivor Pandur could be seen throwing his hands in the air every time a steward went tumbling in a failed bid to catch the animal.
Hull City goalkeeper Ivor Pandur watches on as two stewards fall over themselves with failed bids to capture a squirrel(Image: Bristol City Live)
The squirrel twice took refuge under a ballboy’s stool, with the ballboy still sitting on it, and the Hull fans were merciless, chanting ‘you’re getting mauled by the squirrel’ to their hapless impromptu pest controllers.
Finally it was captured, and it wasn’t until the 64th minute that play finally resumed. “I think he has actually been caught this time and we are playing once more,” said Dan Carter at the time. “We could have a lot of added time here this afternoon,” he added.
With City’s momentum stopped, Hull came back into the game and within a quarter of an hour had pulled a goal back to make it 3-2.
And just as Bristol City’s tiring players reached 90 minutes and were hoping for the final whistle, the referee added on ten minutes added squirrel time, giving a surge of support for Hull’s players from the crowd, and leaving Bristol City’s players defending their lead for a lot longer than they hoped.
The City defence held firm, thanks to a penalty appeal being waved away, a massive block from big defender Rob Atkinson, and the steady hands of keeper Radek Vitek, and City left Hull with all three points after a 3-2 victory.