Jonah Lomu's shorts from the inaugural Super 12 final are up for sale
If this week's Lotto winner is stuck on what to spend some of their winnings on, here's an idea.
The autographed pair of shorts which were worn and ripped off from legendary All Black Jonah Lomu in the inaugural Super 12 final, is being auctioned online for half-a-million dollars.
Lomu, who died aged 40 in 2015 from a heart attack associated with his kidney condition, scored one of six tries for the Blues in their 45-21 win over the Natal Sharks in the 1996 decider at Eden Park.
It was during the second half of that game that Lomu had his shorts torn off by Henry Honiball.
The shorts were flung over the sideline and reportedly snagged by a ball boy and then a commentator, before Lomu demanded them back.
Lomu instead gifted them to Starship Children's Health for the charity to auction.
A man, who was a student in Palmerston North at the time, snatched up the shorts for $4800, hoping they'd one day be worth much more.
The man is now set to list them on Trade Me for $500,000.
He said 50 per cent of proceeds would go to charity.
Speaking anonymously to Stuff, the Brisbane-based Kiwi said the current COVID-19 situation inspired him to create a "good news story".
"We need a bit of a dog on a surfboard story to pump up the tyres because morale is low," he told Stuff.
"I'm trying to separate the wheat from the chaff here ... I'm going to ask for $500,000. That's the start point, but I'm saying 'open to offers' and, look, whatever comes in will come in."
He said his dream is that a New Zealand celebrity will place a bid on the shorts.
The shorts have never been stored in his house and remain in a safety deposit box in a bank.
The auction is set to go live at midday today.
This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and is republished with permission.
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What’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
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