Footballer loses glass eye during a match

It is not unusual for a footballer to lose their head during a feisty game – but a glass eye?

Such a rare incident occurred last Saturday at the North Wales Coast East Division One match between Rhyl Dragons and Caer Clwyd.

Dragons winger Dean Hughes, who has worn an artificial eye from a young age, lost his ocular prosthesis during the game at Rhyl’s Coronation Gardens.

Play had to be stopped for about six minutes while players from both sides, as well as spectators, searched for the missing eye.

Dragons manager Paul Maxwell explained: “Our player Ryan Portman, who was watching the game because he wasn’t picked for the squad, found it.

“Players from Caer Clwyd and our players and spectators were looking for it. The eye was found and cleaned and Dean put it back in and carried on playing.

“He’s had the eye for years since he was younger. He’s always played football with it and this had never happened before.”

Famous people to have worn a glass eye included ex-England 1966 World Cup winning goalkeeper Gordon Banks, following a car accident in 1972, as well as the actors Peter Falk (Columbo) and Leo McKern (Rumpole of the Bailey).

Dean, 37, is having a fine season for the newly-formed Dragons, who won Saturday’s game 3-2.