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'Legitimate mystery': Decades-old photo that's baffling Aussie sporting fans

sam goodwin
Sports Editor

Do you know this man?

A decades-old photo from the 1996 Super Bowl has gone viral around Australia, with sporting fans stumped about one astonishing detail.

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Standing on the sideline as Larry Brown celebrates an intercept touchdown for the Dallas Cowboys against the Pittsburgh Steelers is a man wearing an Australia A one-day cricket shirt.

Also wearing white shorts and sneakers, the man can be seen wearing a headset and a bright orange sleeve while standing next to a cameraman.

The man, pictured here on the sideline as Larry Brown celebrates his touchdown in the 1996 Super Bowl.
The man can be see on the sideline as Larry Brown celebrates his touchdown. (Photo by Peter Brouillet/Getty Images)

Laurie Horesh of ESPN posted the picture on Twitter on Tuesday, immediately sending the internet into a spin.

“Alright Twitter we have a legitimate NFL x Cricket mystery to solve,” Horesh wrote.

“Who is this absolute hero wearing a 1994/95 Australia A cricket jersey on the sideline of Super Bowl 30, as MVP Larry Brown runs back an interception for the Cowboys?”

Social media users were desperate to discover the man’s identity and find out how an Aussie cricket shirt found its way to the sideline of America’s biggest game.

A number of users were of the belief that the man was a ‘TV timeout co-ordinator’, helping co-ordinate the on-field play with television ads.

Some suggested it was David Hill, an Australian who worked on Fox Sports broadcasts of the NFL throughout the 90s.

Hill shoots down that theory

However Hill shot down that theory when contacted by RSN Breakfast Radio on Thursday.

“The worst photoshopped image piece of rubbish I’ve ever seen in my life,” Hill said.

When asked if it was him, Hill replied “Of course not. I’ve never seen it.”

“Some w***er standing there with a pair of shorts and a top badly photoshopped into what looks like the offensive line of the Cowboys.

“How anyone could believe it was anything at all is beyond me?”

However Hill’s suggestion that it’s a photoshop has also been shot down, given the fact it’s an official Getty photograph.

Others suggested it was Dick Shafter, who worked as a timeout co-ordinator for ESPN.

The timeout co-ordinator’s job is to signal to the referees when the broadcaster wants to take a commercial break, hence the high-vis orange sleeve.

As for the man’s identity, the mystery lives on.