One of Britain's most unusual soccer fans has been banned from supporting his local team after scoring an embarrassing own goal. Ben, the Golden Labrador dog, was made a member of Wisbech Town supporters' club so that his owner Tony Close could take him to matches. But two weeks after his £10 membership fee had been paid, Ben was banned from the club because he disgraced himself on the clubhouse carpet.

"I decided to make him a member so there would be no problem with me taking him into the ground or into the clubhouse," said Close, a production supervisor with a packaging firm who has been following the Dr Marten's league side for more than 25 years.

"There was no problem about him joining and everyone in the supporters' club was quite happy about it. Things went wrong on Children in Need night a little while ago. There were a lot of people in the clubhouse and everyone was making a fuss of Ben - feeding him crisps and so on.

"He got a bit agitated so I took him outside to do his business but nothing happened. I took him back inside and he promptly opened his bowels on the clubhouse carpet. I was mortified."

Ben, who is four, was immediately banned from the clubhouse by a barmaid, and that ban was then extended to the whole of the ground by a committee of directors.

Don't worry, if they're anything like Newcastle United directors, Ben will be back in a couple of months.