I'm not Superstitious ... apart from my lucky Red Hat

Supporters often have their superstitions about what to wear on match days - could Phill Chadwick's lucky Coopers hat push his beloved side toward the A-League title?

I like to think of myself as a highly rational person. In fact I am an Engineer by training. We Engineers like to keep to the facts of the matter. We don't believe anything we can't see or touch. Unlucky number 13? Rubbish. Astrology? Only for the gullible and weak minded. How about acupuncture? Not scientifically proven. Black cat crossing your path? Come on, get real!

I take all superstitions with a pinch of salt.

As a player, back in the 70's and 80's, I often laughed at other player's superstitions and rituals on match day. One had a lucky towel. Another a special seat in the change rooms. Our goalkeeper had to spit three times in his gloves before running out. All superstitious rubbish!

Of course, when I got changed, I always put on my left shin guard, left sock and left boot before anything else. But that's not superstition is it? Just common sense for a right-footer like me to give the left foot some special treatment, after all the poor thing wasn't going to see much of the ball.

That business with the old pair of playing jocks that I wore a few seasons too many was just a matter of comfort, ok? Eventually they fell apart anyway, so I had no choice. The new pair were much luckier.

Anyway, I have often said that I am willing to believe anything as long as you can prove it to me. James Randi even offers $1 million to anyone who can scientifically prove the existence of the paranormal. If you say you can talk to the dead, then I will want scientific evidence.

Way back when Adelaide United was young, I was wearing a new, bright red Coopers Brewery baseball hat to the first game. When Carl Veart scored the winner, I thought nothing of it. During that fantastic first season, sometimes I wore the hat, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes we won, sometimes we didn't. See the pattern? It was obvious that there was some kind of spooky connection between my red Coopers hat and Adelaide United's performance. I'm not saying that it was a direct one-to-one connection, but, more often than not, when I wore the hat, we won. That is scientific evidence in my book.

In hindsight, that 4-0 debacle up in Gosford in the World Club Championship could have been averted. If only I had been there, with the Hat on, of course.

I don't think that Coopers are a sponsor of United, but they should be. And if one hat can have such an influence, imagine if the whole crowd had one.

If this all sounds a bit silly, then it is the silly season, no Adelaide United games and no Everton games either! There are still a few weeks to go before we can really get excited and actually look forward to seeing some football played. When they kick off, look out for me, I'll be the one wearing a lucky red hat.

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