EXCUSES EXCUSES

DEONTAY WILDER’S excuse that his ring-walk costume caused him to lose to Tyson Fury has been mocked. Here Mirror Sport recalls some other amazing excuses.

MANCHESTER UNITED’S GREY KIT Losing 3-0 at half-time to Southampton at the Dell in 1996, Sir Alex Ferguson ordered his players to change out of their grey strip (below, left) as they could not see each other properly. United came out for the second half wearing blue and white (below, right) and did improve, but still lost 3-1. The grey kit was swiftly discarded.

LIGHTON NDEFWAYL’S TIGHT JOCKSTRAP

Zambian tennis player Lighton Ndefwayl was in no mood to be graceful in defeat after losing to compatriot Musumba Bwayla in a local tournament in 1992. “Bwayla is a stupid man and a hopeless player. He has a huge nose and is crosseyed. Girls hate him. He beat me because my jockstrap was too tight and because when he serves he farts – and that made me lose my concentration – for which I am famous throughout Zambia,” he said. UKRAINE CROAK

When Ukraine were hammered 4-0 by Spain in their opening game of the 2006 World Cup, it was not their inability to contain Fernando Torres and David Villa which was responsible, but the noise of the frogs outside the team’s hotel in Potsdam. “Because of the frogs’ croaking we hardly got a wink of sleep,” defender Vladislav Vashchuk reasoned. O’SULLIVAN AND THE STREAKER Ronnie O’Sullivan was 8-3 in front in his Masters final against Steve Davis at Wembley in 1997 when a female streaker disrupted proceedings. O’Sullivan lost the next seven frames, the match and the title, blaming the interruption for him losing his concentration. Davis, apparently, had no such problem.