The Wanganui Marist FC team would certainly attest to 2016 being the year of the sporting underdog as they broke their eight-year drought with rivals Cambridge United to win the Hippo Cup for the first time last weekend.
The interclub challenge was the brainchild of Marist's Ken Graham, who played for the club from 2003-7 before moving up to the Waikato.
Graham brought his Cambridge team back to play Marist, and the clash for the Cup became an annual fixture.
After he moved back to Whanganui in 2014, Graham felt for the first time what it was like to lose the end-of-season clash last year.
However, the drought was finally broken at John Kerkhof Park as Marist scored an equalising goal midway through the second half to leave the score tied 1-1 at fulltime.