Blessings and curses were going on in British football long before high ranking Buddhist Somdej Phra Wannarat visited Sheffield Wednesday to bless Hillsborough.

Thailand’s top ranked Buddhist blessed all parts of the stadium after being invited to S6 by new Owls owner Dejphon Chansiri.

And Wednesday went on to pick up four points from their next two home games.

READ MORE: Owls home form boosted after divine intervention

Here we take a look at some of the other instances of divine intervention and other, less savoury means at football grounds.

FRY’S WEE PROBLEM

It is believed that Birmingham City were placed under a curse which ran from 1906 to 2006 after their St Andrew’s stadium was build on land being used by the Romani people who did not take well to their eviction.

Barry Fry certainly bought into the idea when he was Blues boss and sought to rid the club of its curse by any means necessary. Under the advisement of a clairvoyant, Fry urinated in all four corners of the pitch.

Another former boss took the more hygienic method of hanging crucifixes from the floodlights and painting the soles of players’ boots red.

BUBBLE BURSTS ON DERBY’S CURSE

Like Birmingham, Derby County had a run in with Romani gypsies after evicting them from their former Baseball Ground home.

But this group of Romanis opted for a curse with a very specific detail – one which would prevent the Rams from winning the FA Cup.

And so between 1886 and 1903, the Rams reached three finals but never got their hands on the trophy.

When they finally reached the final again in 1946, the club met with the Romani community in an attempt to have the curse lifted.

With the score against Charlton 1-1, the cup final ball burst which was seen as the moment the curse was lifted, especially after Derby went on to win 4-1.

SOUTHAMPTON LOOK FOR END TO SCARY ST MARY’S HOME FORM

St Mary’s was not always a happy home for Southampton – particularly when they first moved into the ground in 2001.

After reaching November of their first season without a win in their new home, the club called on the services of pagan witch doctor Cerridwen ‘Dragonoak’ Connelly.

Connelly demanded ‘spirits be gone’ as she sprinkled water from a wooden chalice around St Marys. And that very afternoon Southampton beat Charlton.

Boss Gordon Strachan said of Connelly: “If she’s that good she can take training for the next two weeks and I can get on with my golf while she gets rid of the ghosts.

“Maybe she can play up front.”

DALAI LAMA IS AN ALDERSHOT SUPPORTER?

Wednesday are not the only club looked upon favourably by the Buddhist community.

The Dalai Lama will address Buddhists at the home of Aldershot Town this summer while on a tour of the UK.

If that doesn’t sound strange enough, it is not the first time his Holiness has visited the Recreation Ground.

He blessed the pitch on a previous visit in 2012 and clearly has an affinity with the Shots.

But it seems his blessing did not deliver the desired effect on Aldershot who we relegated out of the Football League in the season which followed the Dalai Lama’s visit.

NO EXORCISM AT OXFORD, HONEST

In 2001 the Bishop of Oxford was forced to deny he carried out an exorcism at Oxford United’s Kassam Stadium.

But the Right Reverend Richard Harries did reveal he blessed the new ground.

A spokesman for the bishop said: “What the bishop did was what many clergy do, which is bless the ground.

“He used a prayer which said ‘Bless this place and protect it from evil.’”

There was a belief that a curse had been placed on the Kassam after, yes you guessed it, gypsies were evicted from the build site.

And club chaplain Michael Chantry did not want to leave anything to chance.

Chantry said: “I don’t want to give the impression I’m a great believer in gypsy curses but I think to say prayers of blessing in a positive way is a better way of putting it than lifting a curse.”

Oxford went on to draw with York City in their following game after a run of 13 defeats in 17 matches.

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