Rory Delap: Olympic javelin prospect turned deadliest weapon in Premier League history!

Rory Delap was a solid footballer in his career, playing for the likes of Southampton, Derby, and Sunderland, but it's his time in the Potteries where he is most fondly remembered.

In 2008, the Premier League didn't know what to expect when Stoke City first arrived in the Premier League, but one thing is for sure, they did not expect to deal with the deadliest throw-in of all time.

According to skysports.com, David Moyes called it "A human sling." Sam Allardyce said it was "The best scud missile I have ever seen." And former Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari, said: "I have never seen anything like this in my life."

In the late 2000s, the Spanish 'Tikki-Takka' style of play was coming to the shores of England, but for Stoke to survive the Premier League, they had to do something different.

Stoke didn't have the prettiest playing football players, but with the giants of Ryan Shawcross, Mamady Sidibe, Ricardo Fuller, and Abdoulaye Faye, throws in and set pieces would keep Stoke up.

Delap began his early life as an elite Irish javelin prospect and was touted to represent his country at the Olympics. According to thetelegraph.co.uk, Delap said: "I represented the county, so I was decent at it."

The former Irish international gave up javelin at 15 to focus on football, but little did he know his unique throwing ability would keep Stoke in the Premier League.

Delap could throw the ball at a flat trajectory over 40 meters, helping Stoke score a quarter of their Premier League goals in the 2008/2009 season.

At the start of Stoke's first season in the Premier League, 'The Potters' goals against Arsenal, Aston Villa, Portsmouth, Sunderland, and Everton directly from Delap's corners.

In November 2008, former Hull City goalkeeper Boaz Myhill received a ball from a pass back and decided to kick the ball out for a corner rather than a throw-in!

The fear factor was real from Delap's throws in, and the stats speak for themselves, with nine of Stoke's 38 Premier League goals in 08-09 coming from their deadly weapon.

Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger hated the Delap throw-ins and tried to get the throwing law changed so that he couldn't be so effective. It created a heated rivalry between Arsenal and Stoke.

According to skysports.com, former Stoke midfielder Liam Lawrence said: "You could look at the opposition and know that you already had them beat because they were looking across at our lads, and they were all 6ft 3ins, 6ft 4ins monsters."

"We worked on them (Delap's throws) on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. We would spend hours working on set pieces, not just throws but corners, free kicks, and anything that would come into the box."

As the league began to get a grasp of the throws and football started to turn into the style it's played in today, Delap and his throws became less effective, scoring five and four in his next two seasons in the Premier League.

Delap made nearly 200 appearances for Stoke, leaving them in 2013 after initially joining the club in 2006 on loan. He has since joined and left as a coach under former boss Michael O'Neil.

Rory Delap may not have been the greatest technical player in the Premier League, but his long throw-ins that scared England's elite are to be remembered forever!