A-league football club the Central Coast Mariners are on the verge of giving the greatest sprinter in history, Jamaican Usain Bolt, a six-week trial.
The aspiring professional footballer, better known for having a drawer full of Olympic gold medals, willget a longer contract if he shows enough footballing ability.
The 31-year-old retired from athletics last year, and has trialed with football clubs in Germany and Norway since.
When it comes to bizarre promotional-signings, the Mariners are lagging well behind the St. Louis baseball franchise who included a dwarf named Edward Gaedel in a 1951 major league game.
Gaedel and his tiny strike zone delivered a famous walk in his only turn at bat, whereas Bolt would give the Mariners speed.
There are however some striking PR similarities, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Bolt would certainly give the A-league a worldwide profile lift.
Let the fun and games begin...we check out Bolt's footy career so far.
Bat that...dwarf Eddie Gaedel's Major League appearance will always be professional sport's most famous PR stunt. Photo / Getty Images
1) Bolt kicked off his football interest by revealing that playing for Manchester United is one of his biggest dreams. Bolt's agent reported a dozen clubs were interested in him. Suitors included the Mamelodi Sundowns in South Africa, where Bolt trained alongside All White Jeremy Brockie this year.
2) Manchester United got him on board...as their guest at the 2011 Champions League final at Wembley, where Barcelona triumphed.
3) When Bolt tried out for Norwegian club Stromsgodset last month, he was given the shirt number 9.58 (9.58s is his world 100m record). Bolt came on as a substitute for 20 minutes and blew a chance to equalise against the Norway under-19 team.
4) Former Borussia Dortmund head coach Peter Stoger said Bolt had plenty of work to do if he hopes to become a top-level footballer, after he trained with the Bundesliga side in March.
Stoger said the ideal physique for football was "completely different" to that of a sprinter, "...but it was really fun for us. It was a pleasure for us to meet a guy like him and to work with him."
5) Bundesliga.com reported that Bolt scored a "wonderfully-taken headed goal" and produced a "magical nutmeg", to the delight of the spectators at the Borussia training session.
"I think overall I will give myself probably a seven out of ten, I think I was okay," Bolt said afterwards.
Michy Batshuayi, a Belgian striker on loan to Borussia from Chelsea, said: "He's a champion. He pushes himself beyond his limits every day. He's trying to establish himself in another sport, that's classy."
6) The Daily Mail review of his training effort noted a "clumsy touch as perhaps his biggest weakness".
"Unsurprisingly, the retired runner looked a little off the pace as he remained a mere spectator at centre-forward for most of the first half...(he) seemed to struggle with the intensity of the Bundesliga outfit.
"...he came to life when presented with his first chance of the game, getting ahead of his marker to power home a cross with a fine header at the near post.
"His passing was competent, his strength on the ball impressive and his pace undoubted...his finishing was hit and miss but what never wavered was the smile on his face."
7) Bolt's first love was cricket, but he also played as a football goalkeeper at primary school.
8) Bolt captained the Rest of the World against England in a UNICEF SoccerAid charity match at Old Trafford last month. He had a goal ruled out for offside, but netted impressively during the penalty shootout. Bolt's team mates included Manchester United legend Eric Cantona and All Black great Dan Carter.
9) With friends like these...Bolt's agent Ricky Simms — stating the obvious — said playing for Manchester United was a "step too far" for the speedy striker.
"I think if he had six months or nine months playing and training with a team then he could play at some level whether that is League One or League Two," Goal.com reported Simms as saying.
"He would hit me on the head for saying he is not going to play in the Champions League, but I don't know realistically if he has the motivation at this stage of his life to go training with the reserves on a rainy day in Manchester or Munich or somewhere as he is a wealthy guy and has a great life.
"With football though in some form you will see him."
Enter the Mariners, and there shouldn't be too many rainy training days there.
10) Sorry, it's not a gimmick
Mariners chief executive Shaun Mielekamp told the Telegraph: "Apart from him obviously being extremely fast, the feedback we have received from Germany and Norway is that he is a very good learner, and shows dramatic improvement after every training session.
"This is a very real football opportunity, this is not a stunt or gimmick — we want to know if Usain can play. If he can, let's light up the A-League and bring one of the biggest-named athletes in sport to the Central Coast."
