A whopper of (two) grandmother stories

Stephen Ireland plays football. He plays for Manchester City. He's also an international, donning the green jersey for Ireland.

Boy, is he in deep embarrassing shit! Recently, he told his national team manager that he really needed to skip a European Championship qualifying game against the Czech Republic because his grandmother had died and he needed to go home.

The concerned Football Association of Ireland (FAI) chartered a private jet to fly the player home from Slovakia but the FAI discovered Monday that his maternal grandmother in Cork, southwest Ireland, was very much alive. Ireland then claimed it was in fact his other grandmother in London who had passed away. But now, it was Manchester City's turn to discover that this was false too.

So what happened exactly? Ireland came clean soon afterwards. The 21-year-old midfielder said he fabricated the story to cover up the real reason: his girlfriend had just suffered a miscarriage.

"Jessica said she was very lonely and wanted me to come home. She said she thought they might let me home quicker if they thought my grandmother had died. I realize now that it was a massive mistake on my part to tell the FAI and Manchester City that my grandmothers had died, and I deeply regret it. The miscarriage that Jessica suffered last Saturday has caused both of us a lot of heartache and had caused us both to panic."

The player has since apologized to his family, particularly his grandmothers, and to officials of both teams. I'm sure his grannies have forgiven him for wanting them dead. One thing is for sure .... he can't use that excuse again.