Nottingham Forest striker Liam Delap was involved in a contentious foul-throw incident on his debut for his new club on Saturday afternoon at Anfield, but this isn’t the first throwing-related controversy he’s found himself at the centre of in football.
Delap completed a blockbuster £50 million switch to Forest from Chelsea earlier this week, after scoring just one Premier League goal for the Blues in his solitary season at Stamford Bridge. The Englishman has been added to Oliver Glasner’s ranks to provide Igor Jesus and Chris Wood with cover and competition, after falling down the pecking order in west London.
Florian Wirtz Is About to Become a Premier League StarPlay Video1:07The son of Premier League cult hero and notorious long-thrower Rory Delap, the young striker’s dubious throw at Anfield has brought an old story back to life — one which saw him banned from taking throw-ins as a youngster.Liam Delap Didn’t Take a Long Throw-In for Ten YearsLiam DelapReuters/Andrew CouldridgeTony Pulis’ Stoke City side of the late 2000s and early 2010s became synonymous with long throw-ins. The English manager was ahead of his time, with top-flight teams adopting this tactic across the board last season.However, Pulis largely implemented this direct approach because of a weapon he had at his disposal. Rory Delap, a self-proclaimed Javelin enthusiast, was able to launch missiles into the box with his hands from the touchline.
He was the original Michael Kayode, and this set-piece tactic bore fruit for the Potters — they scored 25 goals from Delap’s throw-ins across a four-year period.”I could always throw things from a young age, just throwing stones, cricket balls, golf balls, or whatever,” Delap senior told SPORTbible in 2023.”I remember people going: ‘Wow, look how far he can throw things’. Then I joined an athletics club up in Carlisle. I was a pretty good runner, but my real strength was javelin, so I did javelin from 11, 12 to about 15, 16.””I then became county champion, and a few people were saying if I was to take it seriously, I’d have a chance, but football was my first love.
“Ranking the best strikers in the Premier League right now featuring Ollie Watkins and Erling HaalandRelated15 Best Strikers in the Premier League Ranked (2026)By Daniel HepburnUnsurprisingly, Delap passed this unique trait on to his son. Liam was also a keen javelin thrower as a child, while he started taking long throw-ins for his football team at the age of nine.These missiles caused havoc in youth football, according to the Daily Mail, but Delap junior wasn’t able to take advantage of this attribute for very long. The publication reported that parents of other young players Delap played against complained that his long throws were ‘ruining’ the game, as he was simply able to load the box at every available throw-in opportunity, something no one else in his age group could replicate
