Jack Grealish's tattered shoes aren't the only strange lucky charms

The sports world is filled with some strange and questionable superstitions. Some might just surprise you and the others are just too hard to be comprehended but most of them actually tend to work out for the athlete.

A couple of days ago Sportswallah did a story in which Aston Villa star Jack Grealish revealed his story behind those tattered shoes he sported for his side’s stunning Premier League qualifying match. Of course, Jack made headlines for this strange but effective ‘lucky charm’, but he is not the only football player to have such a superstition.

There are many players who have been using similar ‘lucky charms’ and quite interestingly they have worked out for them. Here are a few that we bet you didn’t know about.

John Terry’s lucky shin pads

John Terry. (Source: BBC)

Former England and Chelsea skipper John Terry spent 10 years of his long-celebrated career wearing the same pair of shin pads. In 2004, in his Chelsea game against Barcelona, he lost those shin pads after throwing them to the side of the pitch while suffering from a cramp.

He said, “Those shin pads had got me to where I was in the game – and I’d lost them. I really felt terrible because they were a big part of my routine.” But of course, he found a replacement later on in his career. Could you imagine the state those shin pads would’ve been in for that entire decade? Quite the ‘lucky charm’, isn’t it?

Arjen Robben’s white tights

Arjen Robben. (Source: BBC)

Whether the football legend wore them to avoid injuries or to regulate temperature, its unclear, but the Dutch winger was known to sport those flashy white tights in all his games. However, after German football authorities made the rule to wear same coloured skins, Robben had to sadly let go of his lucky tights.

Robben was in quite the soup for this reason, as actions were taken on the player for his white tights.

Gareth Bale’s hole-ly socks

Gareth Bale. (Source: BBC)

Real Madrid‘s Gareth Bale was famous for those sock holes whenever he got onto the pitch. Gareth would cut holes in his matchday socks, and not only him, but a number of other footballers followed this trend. with the likes of Kyle Walker and Danny Rose sporting the cuts too.

Now, there’s a reason for this. Apparently, the hole help relieves the tension in the calves during a tiring game period. Bale reached for the scissors after he was caught a couple of times with calf injuries.

Gabor Kiraly’s jogger comfort

Gabor Kiraly. (Source: BBC)

The former Hungarian footballer from Cyrstal Palace was often seen in long grey joggers. When asked about them he once said, “It started 20 years ago in Hungary and it brought me luck. In the beginning, they were black, but the kit man didn’t wash them on Friday, and on Saturday we had a game. I had no other bottoms so I took the grey ones and that was the start of the luck.”

Jack Grealish’s tattered shoes aren’t the only strange lucky charms in football, here are a few more

Gavin Cardoza