Take the surreal game between Duisburg and Cologne in early December 2005.

Five minutes from time, with the game tied at one-all and the visitors from Cologne pressing for the winner, Albert Streit went to collect a ball that had gone into touch and passed Duisburg's coach Norbert Meier, standing at the sideline. Meier said something we can presume to have been unkind, as Streit stopped right in front of him for a repartee.

That's when Meier, almost unperceptibly, quickly moved his head forward so that it gently touched Streit's, threw his arms in the air, flung himself to the ground with a jump that would have done any stuntman proud and lay there writhing in quite obviously unbearable pain.

The ref came to the only conclusion his vantage point allowed him and sent Streit off for headbutting the opposing coach. But the TV cameras had captured the incident from an angle that left no doubt about what really happened, and Meier was quickly fired by his club.