When it comes to the club of their choice, football fans are not known to be open to jokes. UK aficionados of the little round ball have a particularly bad reputation. If the game turns sour, expletives are the least one needs to worry about being thrown around. But lo and behold – in the heartland of soccer pigs may yet fly and humour may win the day.

That was quite literally what the fans of third-league clubs Charlton Athletic and Coventry City did when their match began. Instead of the harmful firecracker, they threw thousands of little plastic pigs onto the field in an act of defiance meant to urge the clubs’ owners to finally sell their ownership in the unsuccessful teams. The audience's goal, alas, has everything to do with the game: to win-win-win.