Lucky strike

Senior features writer

Saturday 23 June 2012

Nicklas Bendtner is a footballer.

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Barry Didcock

Until very recently he was in Ukraine with the Danish national side where he was taking part in Euro 2012.

The Danes' interest in the competition ended last Sunday. If he has any sense, then, Bendtner will now be kicking back with a beer in Copenhagen. If sense isn't his strong suit, he'll be partying in Miami with a bevvy of lovelies. Each to his own.

But enough about him, what we're interested in are his pants – specifically the ones he flashed to photographers after scoring the second of two goals against Portugal. For this act of cheek he has been banned for one game by UEFA and fined £80,000 (or the cost of a haircut, if you're a Premier League footballer).Now as a point of principle I'm fairly anti-UEFA. But at the risk of sounding Clarksonesque, one or two governments should think about taking legislative steps in the same direction vis-a-vis visible underwear. An £80,000 fine for anyone who wanders around showing their pants over the top of their low-slung jeans? It would be popular with the voters and it would take an aesthetic dustpan and brush to our sartorially deficient streets.The other interesting aspect to "Pantsgate" is Bendtner's reasons for showing his briefs. What particularly irked UEFA and brought its wrath down on his expensively coiffured head was the fact his undies displayed the name of a gambling firm. However, it wasn't his intention to offer the company free advertising. No, it was weirder than that. "It's just a pair of lucky boxer shorts I used in the first game as well and have used before the tournament," he explained later, with perhaps a trace of petulance. "I didn't know I was breaking any rules." I'm encouraged by this. With so much science, number-crunching and psychological mumbo-jumbo involved in football these days – even Wayne Rooney was talking last week about "visualisation" (and no, it isn't a Liverpool night club) – it's heartening to think that a player can still rely on something as low-tech and blokey as a pair of lucky pants to help him score. It's a different kind of ball control most men have in mind when they climb into their lucky pants ahead of a night out, but I think we can all relate to the concept.Perversely, then, while I would issue on-the-spot fines for those showing their pants in the street, I would allow it on the football field. By reminding the authorities that mindless superstition still has a place in football, Bendtner has done the game a service. For the record, Bendtner was told not to wear the briefs for the Danes' final group match. We can only assume he complied. We do know he didn't find the net again and that the team lost. Just saying. n

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Lucky strike

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