Lions tour: Apologetic punter tries to return beanie borrowed at Test

Missing beanie Lions tour (Tim Franklin)
The borrowed beanie. Photo credit: Tim Franklin / supplied

A Kiwi bloke who accidentally took home a beanie borrowed from a Lions tour has gone global trying to return it.

Tim Franklin was at the All Blacks vs Lions Test in Wellington when he bumped into a bedraggled man who didn't have a rain coat.

"We just got talking and I thought, 'This guy is gonna get soaked, absolutely smashed by the end of the game'," Mr Franklin told Newshub.

He loaned the man his poncho and in exchange, the man loaned him his beanie.

"He made mention and said it was something special, and I get that," Mr Franklin said.

"His Dad gave it to him, it was their last game together."

Unfortunately, Mr Franklin says he doesn't usually stay in the stands for the whole match. For the second half, he went downstairs - and forgot to return the beanie.

Now he's employed the power of social media to help give it back to its rightful owner.

"I never saw him again and I thought it was a bit unfair," Mr Franklin said.

The beanie had sentimental value to the man, who Mr Franklin believes was an Aucklander named Matt.

"It's not the fact that it's a beanie, it's the fact that it's something special. The beanie's a sideshow," he said.

Mr Franklin says they were sitting towards the front of aisle 26 and the man was with a group of mates.

He's described as being fair-haired and "tall-ish".

"I just need his address!" Mr Franklin said.

"I know what it's like when you have a sentimental piece like the beanie... so I thought I'd throw it on Facebook and see what happens."

So far Mr Franklin says he's had more than 3000 people share his post, with still more liking and commenting on it - including people from overseas.

It's a response he says is "mindblowing".

"At the end of the day, I shared it once. So to see it go the way it's gone is pretty cool," he said.

Newshub.