Over the moon-ing: A brief history of the cheeky goal celebration

The first record of what is now known as 'mooning' came back in the 14th century when Normandy soldiers bared their backsides at the archers in Edward III's army. They paid a painful price for their insult.

Thankfully for him, Ireland has only received a mild rebuke from the Football Association for revealing a pair of blue Superman briefs.

His manager, Sven Goran Eriksson — himself no stranger to removing his shorts — found nothing offensive in Ireland's 'celebration'. It is something of a City habit.

Joey Barton, Ireland's former colleague at Eastlands, famously bared his backside at Everton fans at Goodison Park after a Premier League game in September 2006 in which City had scored a late equaliser.

Merseyside Police investigated and Barton was not charged, although he was fined £2,000 by the FA for bringing the game into disrepute.

One of the most notorious cases of mooning involved former QPR and Arsenal centre half Terry Mancini, who famously stood in front of the directors' box at Loftus Road and bared his bottom at Rangers chairman Jim Gregory.

Mancini, one of the game's great characters in the Seventies, was in Dubai yesterday hosting an ex-footballers' golf tournament. He recalled: 'I can remember the occasion so vividly. It was in October 1974 and the chairman was blocking a proposed move I had been offered to join Arsenal.

'I had been out of the side and had just got back because of injury to David Webb. We beat Ipswich 1-0 with a goal from Gerry Francis and when the final whistle went my frustration over my move got the better of me.

'I ran in front of the directors' box and dropped my shorts. It did the trick because about three days later, I got the transfer.'

I covered that game and suggested in my match report that it was offensive only to Gregory and not to the fans. Arsenal asked if I would give evidence at Mancini's FA disciplinary hearing. The commission was chaired by the FA chairman Bert Millichip and I recall him asking me if I hadn't found Mancini's act offensive, what did I feel constituted an obscene act?

We discussed the topic for some time but it did not prevent Mancini from being given a two-match ban and a £150 fine.

At Highbury he became a teammate of the other notable soccer 'mooner' Sammy Nelson, although the Northern Ireland left back's indiscretion did not occur until five years later. Nelson had put through his own goal in the first half of the match against Coventry City and the North Bank had been quick to let him know what they felt about it.

So when he grabbed the equaliser in the second half he bared his pants — white Y-fronts with not a super-hero in sight — to the fans. As I recall, they were quite delighted with the gesture.

The FA thought otherwise and suspended him for two weeks as the club fined him two weeks' wages.

But the mass mooning performed by the Wimbledon players, led by Vinnie Jones in 1988, still takes top billing.

After Alan Cork's testimonial, nine of the team stood in the centre circle and dropped their shorts in front of the Plough Lane crowd.

John Scales, who was one of them, recalled that the team had won the FA Cup the previous Saturday and had been over-indulging in the product of their sponsor, Carlsberg.

'We had cans of the stuff coming out of everywhere,' he recalled. 'The partying after beating Liverpool at Wembley had gone on and on and was in its third day by then. We were egged on by the fans and were easy bait.'

Wimbledon were fined £5,000 for failing to control their players and each of the guilty nine had to fork out a further £750. The Wimbledon fans were less impressed when Paolo di Canio bared his behind at them nine years later after scoring for Sheffield Wednesday in a 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park. The Italian escaped punishment.

That is rather more lax than the $10,000 fine the NFL imposed on Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss two years ago when he mimicked a moon without actually removing any clothing.

Mancini thinks the decision not to punish Ireland was correct, adding: 'Until you have played professional football in front of a big crowd you can't understand the buzz and the pleasure you get from scoring a goal. These things are spontaneous.

'Sadly, you don't see too many characters in the modern game. It is all taken so seriously now and the money being paid to players has divorced them from the personal contact we used to enjoy with the fans.'