5 of the most controversial goal celebrations in football

#4 Robbie Fowler

Robbie Fowler infamously mimed snorting a line of cocaine in his 1999 celebration against Everton

Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler was famed for his fun-loving personality in the 1990s almost as much as his goalscoring abilities, but despite this, accusations of drug-taking from rival fans were always unfounded. But evidently Fowler had taken them to heart, as he celebrated a goal against Mersey rivals Everton in controversial – and somewhat hilarious – fashion in April 1999.

After Fowler scored he went down on all fours on the goal line in front of the Everton fans before crawling along with it while covering a nostril – essentially miming snorting a line of cocaine. Fowler immediately came in for a ton of criticism, while Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier hardly painted himself in the best light either by claiming Fowler was miming “eating grass”.

The England striker was hit with a four-match ban for his actions and was also fined £60,000 by Liverpool for bringing the game into disrepute, despite his apologies for the incident.

It wasn’t the only controversy surrounding Fowler that season, either; he was also banned for a further two games for using homophobic taunts towards Chelsea’s defender Graeme Le Saux.