Jackie is a good Dog. He plays hard on the pitch and he loves the Team off the pitch. You might question his football skill but not his super attendance record. Whenever there's chance that is beneficial to the Team, he would take it (legally or not). Like the second team jersey, it is again his great contribution for the third one.
It was a normal boring weekday and I received Jackie's long distance call from PRC saying that he can arrange a set of new team shirts and shorts for the whole team - free of charge! Without further explanation, he asked me the size and number that I wanted. Without hesitation, I said, "Number 9, please."
It was years later that certain part of the truth was finally known to the Team but there is still yet a whole picture. All we can do is to list out some of the points for your reference:-
- at that time, a PRC garment manufacturer (which happened to be an expert on production of football shirts) was applying for a loan to a HK financial group;
- Jackie was working in that HK financial group and in-charged for the said loan application;
- information from an insider stating that the loan would not be granted as the PRC manufacturer was not be able to provide some of the essential documents;
- all of a sudden, Dogs United got their third team jersey at zero cost;
- the said loan was granted thereafter.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to establish any solid evident to allot an official charge but Jackie is still on the watching list of HK ICAC ...
On 20 September 2001, three years after the release of the previous shirt, Jackie presented the new shirts and shorts before a match. It goes back to DUFC's traditional color of white. There is no name printed but there's a number in black. The shorts are also white in color. It is in fact a Nike design though there is no Nike logo on the shirt ... The simple yet smart design is made of light and comfortable fabric. The Dogs just loved it.
The appearance of this shirt tops the first three team shirts. On the one hand, Dogs really like to wear white shirts. On the other hand, a stable availability of matches during the period of 2000 - 2003 contributes a lot to that. This shirt features a lot of DUFC actions and most of them were played in Joint U grass pitch or Sycamore Street stone ground pitch.
As the Team got bigger, more Dogs were assigned this team shirt. We have 12 confirmed Dogs, comparing with 7 Dogs for the first shirt and 9 confirmed Dogs for the second shirt. Here are the number allocation:-
Comments from Dogs:-
"Jackie, why you assign number 20 to Alex Ko?" Winkins
"It is for retired player." Jackie
x x x
"Ryan, why number 99?" Winkins
"... Arrrrrrr ... I don't know ..." Ryan
x x x
"What, another new shirt? I won't pay for it!" LCK
"It is free from Jackie." Winkins
"Wah, OK wor." LCK
The shirt was widely accepted by the Team and you can see Dogs still wearing it in 2007. A really nice one! Thank you Jackie!
"It might take you a very long period of time before you become aware of the importance of something, e.g. a team shirt and a relationship. You should take good care of them." Master Plato