Soccer: Younger bro has bragging rights

What started as a bit of friendly banter between brothers on Facebook has ended with Whangarei's Zippy Stanners having bragging rights at home, at least until next time they meet on the pitch.

While Zippy, 26, may be the younger brother to Shane, 31, he rose to claim the alpha-male title at home after having earlier predicted he was "going to crush" Shane in their football clash on the weekend.

Well, it's fair to say that Zippy did that. The Central Brown defender not only headed home a goal, but his side romped home 3-1 over Shane's Kamo team on Saturday.

Zippy's rise to the top of the Stanners brotherhood comes after the Northern Advocate was made aware that Shane had caught wind that his baby bro had been engaging in a bit of smack talk.

"Zippy told his mate he was going to crush me in the game," Shane commented after Saturday's match. "So I put it on Facebook and made it public, inviting a bit of a response but there wasn't a rebuttal."

Shane's original Facebook post said: "So a little birdie Joseph Neho told me that u were quoted as saying u were guna crush me on Sat Zippy Stanners. I'm here to tell u sat wont b no PlayStation encounter, u will feel real pain, u will get hit from every angle [sic]."

Shane continued to say he would do Zippy the favour of arranging to have a St John ambulance nearby. Thankfully, St John was not required and the brothers agreed the clash had brought the best out in them.

"You always go harder when you're playing your brother," Shane explained. "We grew up with four brothers so it was the toughest survives all the time, and always fighting and struggling to be the best. Being the oldest brother I've got to stand up and show the younger brothers who is boss. I've taught them all they know so it's good to see them out there."

Central Brown captain Jake Mabbett agreed with the brothers that the match up brought the best out in them.

"They've been kicking each other since day one so they're keen to do it in front of these people [the supporters]," Mabbett said. "Shane always gives it out on Facebook, and Shane is a former player of this club so as much as he's opposition he's still our mate. [But, Zippy] has been one of our best players this year."

While the brothers regularly come up against each other, the rivalry never gets old. However, they agree that one day playing on the same team might be a nice change.

But for now Zippy will enjoy the fruits of victory with Shane swearing revenge will come.

"I never really got the chance today, but he'll keep," Shane responded after being asked if a goal and a 3-1 win was considered a crushing.