This has got to be the most ridiculous football trivia question of all time. I first heard it several years ago and didn't know the answer. I saw someone phone up 'Soccer AM' claiming that he had made the question up and it was a hoax, yet still it runs and runs... So do you know the answer??? "What enters the field of play in a football match at half-time, but doesn't leave until the match is over? If it's a Saturday match it leaves after the game, but if it's a mid-week game it remains until the next day... and it only happens in the English Premiership, not in Scotland or the lower divisions..." The best answers I have heard are, <ul> [*]The floodlights - as they don't get turned off until after midnight for midweek games. [*]The undersoil heating. [*]The ball - as no-one bothers to retrieve it at big grounds after the game in the week. [*]The ref, as he doesn't leave the town and stays in a local hotel [*]The English Premiership substitutes that warm up on the pitch at half time. They stay with the team and so leave after the game on saturdays and stay with the team in midweek. There are no English Premiership substitutes warming up in Scotland or the lower leagues [*]Raffle tickets which haven't won are thrown onto the pitch at half time (as it is drawn at half time) and they are cleaned up after the match of a Saturday, but are left till the next morning to be cleaned midweek as it is too dark to see after the match [*]Premiership referee... because the field of play is not the field of play until the whistle goes, therefore he cannot enter it because he is already on it. He enters it at half time, goes home after etc, except midweek games when he stays in a local hotel. The 'premiership' referee excludes Scotland and lower division sides! [*]The urine sample for drug test. It's taken after second half (enters field of play in player's ...)on saturday. It goes straight to the lab. Midweek games are at night, so it goes the next day. In Britain, drug testing is not carried out in any other division except premiership. [*]Something to do with the referee's 2nd half match report record. In the English Premiership he does a separate report for each half. He brings on his book at half time to record all incidents, bookings etc. After a Saturday game it goes straight to the 'powers' that deal with the match reports but on an evening game it doesn't go until the next day.[/list]
