Tim Cahill has shown he's a good sport after being the butt of a New Year's prank by a ballboy which is drawing worldwide attention.
The young Central Coast Mariners ballboy is getting plenty of credit for his nerve in whipping away the corner flag as Melbourne City superstar Cahill was about to start his trademark flag-boxing goalscoring celebration.
Much to the delight of the New Year's eve crowd at the A-League clash in Gosford, the ballboy stepped back with the flag and watched as Cahill went through his routine just two metres away.
Cahill took it in good spirit, posing for photos with the boy and shaking hands after the match which finished 2-2 and clearly didn't mind as it continued to garner huge attention on New Year's Day.
"Thanks for having me @CCMariners good to see you guys were ready and knew my celebration was coming," Cahill tweeted on Sunday.
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The ballboy admitted it was a preconceived move.
"One of my mates and me, we had a plan if he scored we'd lift it out of the corner," he told Fox Sports.
Publications the world over have been running the videos and stories of the light-hearted incident.
The UK's Mirror said: "This kid has got some serious cojones - he doesn't look away once!"
While CBS sports in the US had: "And he decided to stare Cahill down while doing it. Savage."
Eurosport UK tweeted: "Ball boy 1-0 Tim Cahill."
