The top 10 oddest trophies in sport
Auckland captain Benson Stanley inspects the John Drake Boot. Photo / Greg Bowker
When Auckland take on Bay of Plenty on Sunday, at stake will be a new trophy: the John Drake Boot. It's the slipper the late former Herald columnist wore in the 1987 World Cup final - and whichever captain has the thrill of lifting this high-cut footwear can consider himself privileged indeed.
It's a fitting award (no pun intended). There's something humble and everyman-ish about a used boot that once piled into rucks and anchored the All Black frontrow. We think the no-nonsense John Drake would have appreciated the simplicity of it.
But odd trophies are nothing new in the world of sport, a realm where talismanic gesture harks back to primal instincts. Here we've gathered together the best of the trophy oddities from around the sporting globe. But none comes close to the Drake Boot.
England finds a new way to lose the World Cup
Trivia question: Who was the first Englishman to lift football's World Cup?
Answer: David Corbett.
Corbett's dog Pickles found the stolen $100,000 Jules Rimet cup before the 1966 World Cup kicked off in England.
England, who was to win the trophy that year, had displayed it at a rare sports stamps exhibition in a Methodist Church Hall where it disappeared.
Presumably, the security had been distracted with a nice cuppa and a couple of well-buttered scones.
One thief was snared attempting to collect the $50,000 ransom, but the trophy remained at large ... until Pickles discovered it under a hedge, wrapped in newspaper.
The stress of it all led to the fatal heart attack suffered by the head of English football soon after.
Pickles, an instant celebrity, quickly perished when choked by his lead while chasing a cat, and the ransom villain died a couple of years later.
A curse was born, but Corbett lived on to tell the tale every World Cup year.
American College Football Trophies - a pork chop
Weird trophies abound in this sporting sphere. They include a telephone and a milk can.
Some of the trophies look like they were thought of after a wee session down at the local.
Others, such as a wagon wheel and 10-gallon hat, are straight out of American lore. Only in America.
Up until 1943, Wisconsin and Minnesota University rivals played for a little slab of wood that represented a piece of bacon. This slice of history was lost and replaced by famous lumberjack Paul Bunyan's giant axe after World War II.
Shed no tears, however, because the bit of false bacon miraculously turned up in a Wisconsin University storeroom in 1994 and in a remarkably good condition.
Wisconsin ain't about to let go of it either. Their coach at the time said: "We took home the bacon and kept it." Which sounds from this distance like a fairly belligerent confession.
Footnote: Paul Bunyan is a mythical figure, surprise, surprise.
The Ashes - great balls of fire
The urn and its contents rank as the tiny tot of world sports trophies at 150mm high, and is probably the most famous and enigmatic of them all.
Indeed, during test cricket's darkest moments, what was a mock obituary to the English team has helped keep the game alive.
Australia and England battle gloriously (usually) in the name of this vessel and its charred remains within every couple of years.
The obituary appeared in a sports newspaper in the late 1800s after England snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against Australia at The Oval.
The English captain swore he would regain the "ashes" in Australia, and the famous urn was presented to an English side by a group of Melbourne women.
Its contents are probably a burnt cricket ball.
The actual urn lives at the Lord's ground in London, and replicas are presented to the series winners.
Maybe the most truly, incredible, remarkable thing about The Ashes is that England have won them twice in the past four years.
Footnote: After digesting the initial shock of defeat, the Victorian era crowd at The Oval carried two of the Aussie bowlers from the field. Magnificent. Warnie never got that sort of ride.