IT was six o'clock on a May morning and Auckland residents had good reason to suspect Grant Lightbown had finally flipped, writes BRIAN DOOGAN.

Driving down Takapuna Avenue, clad in an obscure blue-and-white shirt, Lightbown could be heard chanting "Only one Alan Shearer" amid rousing choruses of "Uncle Jack's Barmy Army".

"Who?" and "What the heck is that?" were common reactions along with: "Shut up you bloody Pom - have you got any idea what time it is?"

Lightbown did but was not sufficiently bothered to halt his celebrating.

His hometown club had just won the English Premiership and by the end of this day, he vowed, half of New Zealand would know about it. And the other half he would paint the colour of the numbers on the Blackburn players' backs.

"I'm very proud of where I come from," said Lightbown, who at one time played for Rovers' reserves before moving to New Zealand in 1985, returning home in October of last year.

"And whether I was in Auckland, Lapland or Honolulu I was going to celebrate my team winning the title.

"Naturally, in New Zealand this was not big news.

"Football's just above tiddlywinks in terms of popularity - it's seen as a nonentity.

"Soccer has very much a minority following.

"So most people thought I had gone crazy or had spent too many hours on the town the night before.

"But you get a lot of English people out there who follow the football at home closely (Sky TV is available).

"And you get the same rivalries among these people as you get at home.

"So it was very satisfying to see Rovers winning the title after such a long gap." Lightbown had ample experience himself of winning league titles while in Kiwi country.

In addition to working as a plumber and builder he played for Matt Wellington, where he was top goalscorer, winning two championships and two Cups during his nine years at the club. For 18 months he based himself in Australia where he competed at a higher standard than New Zealand's football, which he compares to Vauxhall Conference level.

And he received an international cap when the two countries collided in the Trans Tasmin series in 1988.

"At 11 o'clock on a Saturday night I received a phone call from the New Zealand coach telling me to get on the first plane to Adelaide," recalled the 31-year-old.

"I don't think I finished the conversation - I just said, 'On my way,' and within a few minutes I was packed and ready to go. By that stage I was classed as a New Zealand resident and was therefore eligible to play for them.

"Mark Bosnich, the Aston Villa keeper, actually lined up in the Australian goals that day. "Although I wasn't able to put one past him it was still a tremendous experience to be playing for an international side.

"I regard myself very strongly as English but New Zealand is my second country and to represent them was an honour."

Until a couple of weeks ago, the former New Zealand international was lining up for Feniscowles in the First Division of the West Lancs League.

The side was managed by his brother-in-law, Barney Baldwin, but an acrimonious split developed in which Baldwin walked out with a number of key players, including Grant.

Barney is now trying to set these players up with a UniBond League team.

"I had a dispute with the committee and eight of the players and myself walked out," explained Barney.

"They weren't prepared to release them but I'm now trying to fix them all up." Lightbown is anxious to play at "a decent standard" next season.

The fact that in his last season in non-league (1984-85) he scored 27 goals in 42 appearances for Chorley should result in no shortage of offers. And for the time being at least, Adelaide residents will be free of "that mad Pom".

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.