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Kevin’s deep admiration for his hero was clearly shown in his choice of match-day attire, as he often wore a green-and-white hooped jersey long after his favorite player had left the team. The shirt was especially noteworthy because it bore the name of his idol but notably lacked the iconic number 17. Kevin explained, “The reason it doesn’t have a number on the back was because he hadn’t actually signed yet and so we didn’t know his number when I got it.”
The jersey suddenly went missing, leaving Kevin distraught. Having just moved to Edinburgh, he suspected that the shirt was taken during a lively flat-warming party. Although he had some ideas about who might have taken it, Kevin was never able to pinpoint the culprit. After some time, his frustration eased, and he largely forgot the incident—until an unexpected email arrived years later from an unfamiliar address. The message started with a greeting that immediately caught Kevin’s attention: “Hi Kevin, remember me? Yes that’s right, it’s your Ian Wright Celtic strip.” The sender went on to apologize and explain, “I hope you aren’t mad with me but I decided to embark on a journey of discovery.”
Opening the attached photo, Kevin was met with an image of an unknown woman holding up his cherished Celtic jersey on the London Eye. He recalls, “I was just mega confused… Running through my mind was, who has done this? I mean bravo, it’s a really good prank. But little did I know there were a lot more emails to follow.” Subsequent messages arrived with photos of strangers wearing the jersey in various global locations—Barcelona, Turkey, Italy, and eventually sites in South America. Kevin fondly remembers one standout snapshot: “Christ the Redeemer was one of my favourite ones. It made it all the way [to Brazil] and then down to Venezuela and Puerto Rico and then back up to the USA.”
Longtime friend Kris Robertson remembers Kevin’s attachment to the Ian Wright Celtic strip vividly. “He used to wear it all the time. I just remember he was very proud of it. It was his prize possession.” When Kevin hacked into Kris’s emails to embarrass him at work, Kris sought revenge in a playful way. Inspired by the 2001 film Amelie, in which a garden gnome is sent around the world, Kris thought, “It was postcards with pictures of all these exotic locations and I thought that’s perfect, I’ve got to do that with his strip.” Kris used the stolen jersey as the centerpiece for an elaborate prank. While he occasionally tried to get Kevin to admit he knew what was happening, the gag carried on for years.
The climax of Kris’s practical joke came when Kevin announced his wedding. Kris reflected, “When he announced he was getting married, I thought this is the perfect opportunity.” The bewildered look on Kevin’s face during the big reveal made it all worthwhile: “It was really good. I knew he’d appreciate the gag and finally finding out but it was actually a bit of a relief as well. I couldn’t keep this going forever.” Kris’s parents supported him in collecting a series of photographs showing the jersey in various UK and European locations before Kris took the strip to South America in 2008. While traveling, Kris entrusted the jersey to friends heading off on further adventures, capturing memorable stops like Easter Island and Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer.
However, the story takes an unexpected turn. Around 2013, the stream of photos ceased. When Kris reached out to the last known custodian of the jersey, they admitted to losing it. Kris acknowledges the risk of sending a treasured item around the world with strangers: “I suppose that’s the risk of sending it off around the world with complete strangers.” Refusing to let the prank end on a sour note, Kris spent hours hunting online for a replacement shirt and painstakingly recreated the exact letters, ironing them on by hand. “I should apologise yes it was very careless of me to lose [but] a lot of love went back into the replacement.” The fate of Kevin’s original Ian Wright strip remains a mystery—perhaps still wandering the globe, waiting to return home. This remarkable tale of affection, mischief, and eventual reconciliation might yet have more chapters to come
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
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