Former Manchester City striker Imre Varadi said it was “brilliant to see” the club’s fans waving inflatable bananas at Anfield on Sunday and feels it “brought a lot of fun back”.

Varadi was nicknamed ‘Imre Banana’ by City fans during his two-year spell with the club in the late 1980s and they began taking inflatable bananas to games when they played in the old Second Division.

The craze continued into the early 90s, with City fans taking bananas to games intermittently since, and dozens re-emerged at Sunday’s game.

City’s 3-0 win over Liverpool was the club’s first game since being found guilty of 114 charges related to breaches of Premier League financial rules between 2009-10 and 2017-18.

With the club facing sanctions such as a points deduction or expulsion from the Premier League, City fans took bananas to Anfield as a nod to their time as a yo-yo club in the 1980s.

Varadi, who now sells inflatable bananas via the club and whose X account is @imre_banana,, external told BBC Radio 5 Live Drive: “It was amazing, [it’s] bringing a lot of fun back into the game.

“The game itself was a terrific game obviously but just to see the inflatable craze coming back from the 80s when I was playing at the old Maine Road, it was a joy.”

Varadi joined City from West Brom in October 1986 and scored 26 goals in 65 appearances before moving to Sheffield Wednesday in September 1988.

“Somebody started to call me Imre Banana and then, the following game, there were 10, 20, 25 bananas and then it just grew and grew and grew until every football club had an inflatable,” he added.

“I started it but it was 40 years ago and it’s still going strong now, as we all saw at Anfield. I’m really proud of it.

“It’s bringing a lot of joy to the game. It’s great to see.”

Price says her focus is simply on Kotaskova, who took Cameron the distance in London in April.

Her loss on the scorecards at light-middleweight is her only defeat in a 15-fight career and will present a tough challenge for Price in her 11th fight since giving up her amateur status.

At one stage it had seemed as though all roads led to a showdown with Shields, with the two facing off after Price’s win over Pineiro earlier this year.

Shields called out Price as recently as August having reclaimed titles at middleweight.

A two-fight deal had been speculated but, when pressed on what happened, Price told BBC Sport Wales: “There was nothing on my side. The money wasn’t great, I wanted to fight in America and in Wales, but she wouldn’t come here, and there was no rematch clause.

“Everything basically was stacked against me and it just didn’t make sense.

“I have to stand on my own two feet and think: ‘I’m Lauren Price, I’m unified champion, Olympic gold medallist.’

“If I was towards the end of my career or if I had a few losses, absolutely you jump on it.

“But there’s no rush and there’s equally exciting fights out there.

“That fight will definitely happen, but only when it’s the right time and it makes sense.”

Mensur Suljovic’s crowd incitement during his match against Ross Smith and his alleged sexist comments in his on-stage interview regarding the incident have been referred to the Darts Regulation Authority.

The Austrian encouraged the crowd to boo the Englishman during a last-leg decider in their third-round clash at the Swiss Darts Trophy on Sunday afternoon.

He was later asked about the incident in an on-stage interview and used an allegedly sexist comment to describe how Smith reacted.

Suljovic said: “Ross Smith is one of the best players in the world – what’s the bloke complaining about? He’s got to play his game; otherwise, he’s welcome to go home.

“Women, women – they’re always complaining, sorry. Sorry, you don’t do that. I fully accept him as one of the very best darts players.

“OK, I’ve been riling up the crowd a bit, just like in Germany – I need your support. I need you; without you, I can’t achieve anything. Thank you, thank you very much!

“What’s he complaining about? When I’m in England, everyone’s against me; everywhere I go.

“And now, all of a sudden, he’s complaining? He might as well just stay at home.”

Suljovic apologises over incident

On Monday afternoon, Suljovic subsequently issued an apology.

“I would like to comment once again on my match against Ross Smith and the interview that followed,” he said.

“The emotions got the better of me in that moment. I wanted to get the crowd behind me and, in doing so, I didn’t properly realise that Ross was throwing for the match.

“Looking back, I understand that the timing was unfortunate and was perceived as unfair. I would like to apologise to Ross for that.

“Ross is, in my opinion, one of the best darts players in the world, and I have great respect for him and his achievements.

“My comment about women during the interview was also completely inappropriate. I should never have said something like that. I would like to sincerely apologise to all women for those remarks.

“Darts thrives on emotion, but fairness and respect are just as important. Yesterday, I let my emotions get the better of me.

“I’m sorry for that.”

In a statement, the PDC confirmed “the matter on stage and interview has now been referred to the Darts Regulation Authority” and issued “no further comment”.

The incident between Suljovic and Smith explained

Suljovic and Smith were locked at 5-5 in their best-of-11-legs clash on Sunday afternoon, with Smith having two match darts at double 18 when Suljovic gestured to the crowd to increase the volume of boos, prompting the Englishman to miss the target and hand his opponent a chance to steal the match.

Suljovic then nailed double 10 with his final dart to complete the checkout and seal victory.

His antics had left Smith frustrated, with the Englishman later taking to X to share his thoughts following the defeat.

“I don’t blame Mensur for me losing that game,” Smith wrote. “I missed two match darts. Simple as that.

“Obviously, it’s impossible for me to know what he’s doing behind my back when I’m throwing apart from the crowd’s response.

“Karma will come around.”

Suljovic is no stranger to controversial incidents. The Austrian denied intentionally provoking Joe Cullen during a World Championship clash last December.

Cullen branded his opponent’s pace of play as “cheating” and “not darts” after becoming frustrated by the length of time he was taking to retrieve his darts and celebrate, with referee Kirk Bevans even forced to intervene.

Webster: There is a time and place for it and it was ‘poor form’

Sky Sports Darts’ Mark Webster on the incident between Smith and Suljovic (speaking before the apology)…

“Obviously with regards to the weekend, it was poor form for Mensur Suljovic.

“I think every player can use the crowd to their advantage, but there’s a time to do it, isn’t there?

“It’s not while the player’s throwing, particularly not on match darts.

“Fair play to Ross, he came out and said he didn’t even see it and it didn’t put him off, he still should have won the game.

“Mensur kind of doubled down on it as well. Like I said, get the crowd involved, players do it, it’s part of the game now, but not on match darts and geeing them up when he’s on match darts.

“He has used tactics in the past, hasn’t he, in terms of slowing players down.

“That’s fine, it’s not against the rules, but sort of egging on the crowd when Ross on match darts wasn’t good.

“I’m sure the DRA will get involved now, it’s not good sportsmanship, is it? Rightly so, he should get fined.

“As long as he recognises that he’s done wrong, he hasn’t at the minute, but when he recognises that he’s done wrong, it’s the timing of it, isn’t it, that’s the poorest.

“I’m sure he’ll realise and a fine will come his way. He should learn from it and he should never do it again, not on match darts.”