Contracted Players - Return of the Long Pins

i thought the 88 were the headhunters

Its bad when I could only think of this song with his name!

"Dressed up like a million dollar trooper

Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper
Super-duper"

Him and Ball are going to be phenominal. 

why does #88 make him a nazi???

It's a white supremacist think. H is the 8th letter of the alphabet, HH is heil hitler. etc...

88 is a white supremacist numerical code for "Heil Hitler." H is the eighth letter of the alphabet, so 88 = HH = Heil Hitler. One of the most common white supremacist symbols, 88 is used throughout the entire white supremacist movement, not just neo-Nazis.

https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/88

However, he wore 88 at Celtic and it is his year of birth. 

people can't seriously be even considering the fact that our new signing and Kilkenny are Nazis, right? a bit embarrassing if not joking around lol

he's born in 1988 and it's a cool looking number to be honest

That's fudgeed. I had know idea. Shark, people are crazy. 

No one actually thinks he is (can't answer for Kilkenny) but its like other things with language, sometimes words or in this case numbers, get associated with things. Like the stupid ok hand signal being Alt-Right.

Nah, but have to admit it's not a great look having a couple of white guys with half shaved heads in the number 88 tbh. Obviously it's because he was born in 88. (or he's Chinese)

If its the number of goals he scores for us i will be well happy

ah yeah, fair. hope Hooper's wearing 88 because that's how many goals he'll grab a season

i just really hope he doesn't see the swathes of people on Twitter scrutinising the year he was born. It's a number that a few extremists have taken and evolved it into a hate symbol, same with the OK sign, and it's crazy how we let them do that

Seems Hooper was going to sign for Esteghlal in Iran. For those who don't know, they're the club that the Blue Girl was a fan of (RIP)

Yeah fudgeing dickwads. My email is name.88@... (turns out Hooper and I were born on the same day!) and I've had a few people mention it to me, particularly after March 15. 

I didn't really think he was a Nazi (although some top players have been), just pointing out the symbolism for those who're lucky enough not to deal with Nazis on a regular basis

My first phone number when I was a kid was 88123... Have I been a Nazi this whole time?

Yeah, look at Tom Doyle's club in Germany. Captain and club favourite got his contract terminated for Nazi sympathising and I doubt he's gonna find another employer soon lol

Withdrawing my attendance at grandads birthday next month now I find out he's turning into a Nazi. #88

He was born in 1988! All about context. As the people who came up with the name Yellow Fever have found out in a few internet dramas over the years,

That's ultra-fudged up, since doesn't Doyle play for Chemnitz which used to be called "Karl Marx City"?

Fudged up if you are comparing Karl Marx to Nazis.

Sorry, I don't actually want to start an argument here, so ignore my nonsense comment haha. I guess this shows the problems with politicising sport!

Yeah, man, that was my point, that it's fudged up if the Karl-Marx-Stadt team are being run by Nazis

This was from a google search:

Number 88 symbolizes fortune and good luck in Chinese culture, since the word 8 sounds similar to the word fā (发, which implies 发财, or wealth, in Mandarin or Cantonese). The number 8 is considered to be the luckiest number in Chinese culture, and prices in Chinese supermarkets often contain many 8s.

What does the number 88 signify?

Great signing.

Gary Hooper translated into Mandarin

加里胡珀

Chuck that on a 88 Nix jumper and splash it over a few billboards on Dominion Road (a virtual China Town), come Nix game at Eden Park in December.

Will add a few hundred to the gate.

I doubt it. Rugby was always going to make the 7 stories reported on either of the new channels.

All you get from TV1 News is:

Wellington Phoenix have added a marquee striker to their A-League ranks, coaxing former Celtic forward Gary Hooper to the club.

Hooper, 31, joins from Sheffield Wednesday after a career in English and Scottish football, where he won two titles with the Glasgow giants.

The Englishman, who has signed a one-season deal, will miss this weekend's away trip to play Sydney FC but he will be available to debut in round three.

whereas anything eggball related gets several pages.

Meanwhile on TV3 you get a 30 clip and this article: (I highlighted a comment which I thought was unjust and smells of Fox Sport)

Wellington Phoenix believe they may have the club's best-ever signing, coaxing former Celtic forward Gary Hooper to the A-League.

Hooper, 31, joins as a free agent, most recently with Sheffield Wednesday, after a career in English and Scottish football.

The Englishman will be hoping to recapture his form with the Glasgow Giants, where he won two titles and a golden boot.

Hooper has signed a one-season marquee deal and will miss this weekend's away trip to play Sydney FC ahead of a likely debut in round three against Perth Glory.

His signing raises hopes that the perennial A-League strugglers may be able to back up last year's surprise finals appearance.

The Phoenix, which looked toothless and short on experience in a round one loss to Western United, were delighted to unveil their star on Thursday.

"It's been no secret that we've been searching incredibly hard for a striker this season," said Wellington chief executive David Dome.

"We're extremely pleased to sign someone of the highest calibre in Gary Hooper.

"His CV is on paper arguably the most impressive of any Wellington Phoenix player to date and I have no doubt he'll contribute.

"I'm sure that football fans across New Zealand and Australia will be thrilled to see a player like Gary in action for Wellington."

Dome raised anticipation levels on Thursday morning, taking to Twitter to parody pessimistic forecasts for his club's season.

Kudos to the scouts for spotting his advert

88 wicked - Paul Ifill was 8 so I choose to take that as double Ifill

mmmm double Ifill

A lot of Celtic fans on Twitter are disappointed he's not rejoining them which is a really good endorsement of the quality of this signing.

On the pod Gilly listed the players with more than one year on the contract:

Marinovic

Sail

Fenton

Piscopo

Cacace

Ball

Davila

(and he said there might be a couple others he forgot)

I thought people were angsting that Libby would be leaving on a free at the end of the season, has a re-signing come in under the radar? 

Thats what I thought but Sean Gill said otherwise on the the podcast so I'm a bit confused!