12/21/24
January 11, 2006
It's not how much you bet, it's what you bet it on: Liverpool fan bets that Xabi Alonso will score from half, wins £25,000.
posted by DrJohnEvans to soccer at 10:53 AM - 8 comments
Adrian Hayward, 42, indicated that his first act after collecting his winnings would be to legally change his name to Stone Cold Lock Hayward.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 11:07 AM on January 11, 2006
Utterly incredible. 200 pounds is a lot to risk on something like that.
posted by insomnyuk at 11:08 AM on January 11, 2006
"When it went in, I went crazy." You put two hundred quid on a specific player to score from his own half in a specific season - you were already crazy, mate. Every time I hear about this, his story gets more and more embelished. First it was "I saw him try it a couple of times last year and thought it was worth asking for odds", then it was "I had a dream that he would do it" and now it's "I've always had a vision in my mind that it would come when the opposing keeper came out for a corner in a cup game." Fair play to him. Maybe he can use that 25 large to pay off his gambling debts, which must be astronomical if he's betting on shit like this often.
posted by JJ at 11:22 AM on January 11, 2006
JJ's got this guy pegged, methinks.
posted by chicobangs at 11:43 AM on January 11, 2006
Yeah, I'd love to see a list of crazy bets made and lost. Maybe a bookie will start an anonymous blog somewhere. Or post here.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 11:51 AM on January 11, 2006
I can't believe he got odds of 125/1... Those are outrageously low odds for a bet that preposterous. How often does a player score from inside his own half? Hardly ever. Before Alonso, I've only ever seen Beckham do it. Even Pele never pulled it off. The only winner here is Paddy Power. They get all this free publicity for a measly 25k - small change to them, I'm sure. The bloke should be crying. He could have gone to an online exchange like Betfair and easily had his bet matched for 1000/1.
posted by afx237vi at 03:14 PM on January 11, 2006
Hasn't Chris Kirkland's dad got a bet on that his son will play for England before he's 30? The bet was made when Chris was about 12 years old, I recall. Odds of around a thousand to one. He's been in the squad and would have already played in a friendly but for an injury. I expect a collect on that one at some stage. Perhaps Chris' dad could split the winnings with Sven?
posted by owlhouse at 03:48 PM on January 11, 2006
Geez, and here I am pissed off that rcade cost me 50 bucks on the Jaguars game.