Soccer: Undies provide winning streak

Anendra Singh
A pair of black-and-white striped underpants, a mohawk hairdo to match and a grown-up willing to unabashedly strut his stuff would be godsend for most wearable art award designers.
But to suggest that such an ensemble would inspire a soccer coach and his age-group players on the playing field would raise many eyebrows.
But someone forgot to tell that to this season's Hawke's Bay 13th grade boys' soccer team who resorted to such tactics when they lifted the title in Wellington last week during the Lower North Island tournament.
It all started when the mother of one of the boys, Annie Macfarlane, bought coach Craig Barkle, 41, a pair of "lucky underpants" on the eve of their crucial final match last Tuesday against Horowhenua-Kapiti at Alex Moore Park, Johnsonville.
So Barkle, a shipping agent, in the spirit of the gesture, felt "obligated" to reciprocate.
"I told the boys that if they won I'd streak around the park in nothing but the lucky undies.
"The boys laughed - but were going to take me up on it," he said.
Not to be outdone, the youngsters added their own twist to the final preparations.
"All the players and coach had mohawks done with the help of hair wax. A group of them formed a hair product brigade and once one did it, all of them wanted it done.
"I'm thinning on the top so the boys did a damn good job. I was pretty proud of it," he said, clutching at wisps of hair.
"They're a bad influence on me, those boys." As if that wasn't enough, no player was allowed to wear anything red - the colour of Horowhenua-Kapiti.
Barkle's wife, Karen, inspected all the players' undies to ensure none of them, including their son, Jason, was wearing the offending colour.
The rest they say is history.
The Bay boys won 2-1 and a delighted Barkle was spotted scampering across the field in his lucky undies, much to the amusement of the players and spectators.
"I couldn't let the boys down. When a promise is made you have to keep it. But I did wear my socks and medal," Barkle said with a grin.
However, the boys and their parents are not likely to let Barkle forget the moment of madness so soon - " One of the mothers caught me on videotape."
What made the victory sweeter was that the undefeated boys, as 12th graders last season, missed the final when they lost to Horowhenua on a penalty shoot-out. To add icing on the cake, eight 13th graders last week were selected to represent the Central Federation age-group side.
For the record, Barkle assures us the pair of lucky undies was not a G-string but added: "They are available to any other coaches for a small fee, if they want." * Age-group reports: pages 14, 15.