BEIJING - Olympic officials got their knickers in a twist over the Black Sticks undies, and suspended the team's manager for yesterday's vital hockey match against Germany.
Kevin Marr watched from the grandstand after Bradley Shaw, Simon Child and Blair Hopping wore visible black short-style undies under their
white shorts in the 2-2 draw with China.
Under the rules, shorts and undies must match, but New Zealand were in their alternate white strip against China, and the players did not own alternate white undies.
Initially officials wanted to suspend the players involved.
When Marr said that was unfair since he was in charge of what the players wore, he was suspended instead, which prevented him sitting in the team dugout.
"They're pretty pedantic rulings," Marr said.
"They are trying to ensure teams present themselves in the best possible light.
"I understand where the rule comes from but to suspend players is wrong.
"I wore it on the chin. I could have appealed but it just uses a lot of negative energy you don't need."
When the players wore the same undies in the 1-3 loss to Germany yesterday it was not an issue, as the Black Sticks wore their usual black.
But it did prove an issue for the Germans, who switched from their usual black shorts to red, to avoid a colour clash.
Red undies are apparently hard to come by, so they stuck with black, which proved a mistake.
German manager Jochen Heimpel contacted Marr yesterday to say the indiscretion had been noticed and his players had been threatened with suspension from their semifinal.
Germany were likely cop it worse than New Zealand, as a warning to all sides was issued after the black undies put in their appearance.
Marr expected Heimpel to cop a two-match suspension.
As the only member of the team to be sent off in Beijing, Marr has had to ensure a fair amount of good natured "stick" from his players.
- NZPA
