Sport's top 10 weirdest call-ups

Brian Lochore got a late call to play the 1971 Lions. Photo / Herald file

Opinion

Lachie Munro went from watching the horses to watching the Sharks when the Blues made an emergency call last weekend – even though he wasn't part of the squad and he'd had a beer at the races. That prompted the Herald on Sunday sports team to come up with a Top 10 weird call-ups list.

1: Andy Nicol

The Scotland halfback had been left out of the initial 67-strong wider squad for the 2001 British Lions tour of Australia. So, despite having captained Scotland, the 30-year-old halfback was a very, very long way from contention for
the tour proper.

He knew that, so took the opportunity to act as a tour guide hosting Lions fans
in Australia. He hadn't played rugby for two months but had completed a few runs while in Australia.

Which was just as well, as Donal Lenihan, the Lions tour manager, called him at 11pm on the Friday night before the third and decisive test.

Nicol was on his way to the Sydney Harbour Bridge to complete a night walk. He thought Lenihan's call was a wind-up at first but found it was genuine, as Austin Healey's back had gone into spasm.

Nicol spent the next day being briefed on the various calls and then sat on the bench. "I was so worried about getting on in the first minute," he later recalled.

"I hadn't played since May 1 and hadn't even seen a rugby ball since then. I threw about three passes to Jonny Wilkinson and saw about half-a-dozen lineouts on the Saturday and that was it.

"But Martin Johnson and Keith Wood said to me, at different times, if you do get on, ignore all the calls and just play your natural game and find red jerseys, and that calmed me down a bit."

Television captured perfectly the look of horror on Nicol's face when the Lions halfback in that test went down injured – but he never did get on.

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2: John Daly

The crazy career of golf's wild child would probably not even have got started
had it not been for a wacky call-up.

Daly had twice failed to qualify for the 1991 PGA championships at Crooked
Stick. He was a nobody, sleeping rough in his car and not expecting to play – until no fewer than 10 past tournament winners withdrew.

Daly, who was ninth alternate, got a start and – with trademark cigarette stuck to his lip – unveiled his massive power game and delicate short game. He'd had no practice, had never played the course before and yet he won, in one of sport's greatest upsets.

Of course, the Daly story had a long way to go in terms of selections, where the big fella made some strange choices. He won the 1995 British Open; but he also won a lot of attention for drinking, gambling, trouble with the law and messy divorces and his game got plugged in golf's biggest bunker – self-destruction.

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3: Denmark

Denmark weren't even supposed to be at Euro '92. Legend has it the players were all busy sunning themselves on a beach somewhere and coach Richard Moller Nielsen was putting in a new kitchen when they got the call to replace Yugoslavia, who were banned from the tournament because of international sanctions resulting from the wars there.

No one expected them to perform well, least of all the players. They had no time to prepare and were without their one genuine outfield star, Michael Laudrup, who refused to play. But it was this laissez-faire attitude which was their biggest asset, along with outstanding goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel.

They finished second in their group behind hosts Sweden but ahead of England and France. They beat the Netherlands, the defending champions, on penalties in the semifinals before defeating 1990 World Cup winners Germany to claim their first major title.

* * *

4: Jeff Thomason

You're working on a construction site in Someplace, New Jersey, when you get a call from a coach wanting you to fill in for an injured tight end.

You don't mind so much except for the fact you're three years retired and it's only the Philadelphia Eagles wanting you to sign on to play in the freakin' Super Bowl.

But it happened to Jeff Thomason.

The Eagles went on to lose the 2005 Super Bowl to the New England Patriots and Thomason promptly re-retired but, hell, what a way to come in and go out again.

* * *

5: Mike Brewer

The versatile loose forward was not selected for the All Black tour of England and Scotland in 1993. He did, however, travel to the UK as a sponsor's representative.

The All Blacks had been handed a strange itinerary where they played England at Twickenham in their final test, then stayed on to play the Combined Services midweek and the Barbarians in Cardiff.

Coach Laurie Mains, who was known as a Brewer acolyte from their Otago days, called him up to the bench for the Barbarians game. It was a controversial call, as it meant Liam Barry, an original member of the tour party, was overlooked. He was distraught, as were many who believed Mains had ridden roughshod over any notion of fair play. Brewer played the last 10 minutes.

* * *

6: Brian McKechnie

It was McKechnie's great fortune, or misfortune, to be involved in two of the powderkeg moments in New Zealand sport. The second, the underarm delivery that he faced at the MCG, was two years away when he was called on to the bench for the All Blacks match against Wales.

Bevan Wilson, who started the Grand Slam tour as first-choice fullback, was a
late scratching and, as legend has it, a legend McKechnie has never sought to deny, a heavily hungover Southlander was forced to strip for the game.

These were the days before tactical substitutions, however, so McKechnie probably felt a safe bet to nurse his thumping headache on the bleachers of Cardiff Arms Park. Disaster struck in the first few minutes when Steve Fenwick's head met Cantabrian Clive Currie's jaw, a clash so gruesome, it forced Currie's retirement from the game.

Wales dominated much of the match, surging to a 12-4 lead and comfortably winning the forward battle. However, two McKechnie penalties brought the scores to within two and then, with three minutes left, Andy Haden and, to a lesser extent, Frank Oliver flopped out of the lineout.

McKechnie was faced with a 37m penalty on the angle to win the game. To the disgust of the Welsh crowd, he made it and punched the air in one of New Zealand sport's most famous images.

* * *

7: Ken Nicholson

In the second innings of the first test at Bangalore, 1988, New Zealand fielded a three-man bowling attack – Ewen Chatfield, Evan Gray and John Bracewell – not much use when the likes of Kris Srikkanth and Navjot Sidhu are at the crease.

New Zealand had an interesting fielding line-up as well, including Jeremy Coney, retired for the past 18 months, and journalist Ken Nicholson, who now does publicity for Bowls NZ after his one and only cricket match for New Zealand.

Radio commentator Brian Waddle had the creams on as well in preparation should another player come down with the lurgy that had spread through the team like wildfire.

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8: Brian Lochore

One of New Zealand rugby's greatest figures, Lochore famously left a note to wife Pam on the kitchen table at home in 1971 which said: "Gone to Wellington. Playing test tomorrow.'

Plucked from retirement almost a year after he had hung up his boots, Lochore was asked to play lock for the All Blacks against the rampant 1971 Lions in the third test after Peter Whiting pulled out with injury.

It was a desperate gamble against a team which had the measure of the All Blacks up front and was an odd choice, given that in 68 All Black matches, Lochore had always played No 8, apart from two matches at lock – and then against minor opposition on tour.

The veteran played his heart out – he knew no other way – but the result was predictable: Lions 13 All Blacks 3. The All Blacks were 2-1 down and the series was about to be lost.

* * *

9: Tony Pigott

Anthony Charles Shackleton Pigott earned his selection by being in the right place at the right time, though you could argue it ended up being right place, wrong time.

The Sussex medium pacer was enjoying the 1983-84 summer playing for Wellington when an injury-depleted England called him into the second test at Christchurch. One small problem – he was due to be married that weekend. Still, you can get married any time, right?

The call for country was too strong and he ended up bowling as well as anybody (that wasn't hard), taking 2-75 as New Zealand, inspired by Richard Hadlee's belligerent 99, reached 307.

England folded for 82 and 93 and Pigott was not called upon again. The Harrow Old Boy was last seen running a pub in Hurstpierpoint, whose other residents include former England footballer Jimmy Hill and Tim Finn's ex Greta Scacchi.

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10: Chris Pringle

Perhaps confirming that cricket dominates any list of weird call-ups is the case of Chris Pringle. The Aucklander with the awkward action was in 1990 playing league cricket in Bradford when he turned up in, we're reliably informed, a ridiculously tight pair of jeans to watch a one-dayer between England and New Zealand.

He was pressed into action – Martin Snedden, Willie Watson and Shane Thomson were all either injured or unwell – and took a creditable 2-45 off 11 overs.

This convinced the selectors to keep Pringle on and he became a fixture in the teams of the early '90s, one of New Zealand cricket's more ignominious periods.

Just a coincidence?

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Bonus extra: Marv Albert

Commonly dubbed the 'voice of basketball', Marv Albert was an odd choice as NBC commentator for the 2000-01 and 2001-02 NBA seasons. That's because NBC fired him in 1997 after a sex scandal.

Albert went on trial after his lover, a 42-year-old woman, alleged that during their 10-year relationship, Marv and she had threesomes with another male; that he dressed in women's underwear and indulged in all manner of weird fetishes that culminated in throwing her on a bed and biting her back 15 times.

Albert said the woman was out for revenge after being dumped but the bite marks were proven to be his and he pleaded guilty to minor misdemeanour charges, with other more serious charges dropped.

Two years later, NBC called him up again. The following year, NBC lost the NBA rights to rival network ABC.