What does Warwick Capper and the A-League have in common? Capper was wondering the same thing after he was wheeled out by Brisbane Roar in a cheeky campaign aimed at A-League rivals Gold Coast United ahead of Sunday’s Suncorp Stadium showdown.

Something was needed to lift ailing Roar home attendances.

But everyone – including, it seemed, Capper – was surprised when the former AFL star was used to spruik the upcoming grudge match.

Ahead of their second derby clash, the Roar have offered to help United by offering three suggestions for the one thing they believed the A-League newcomers lacked – a mascot.

So in front of bemused inner-city Brisbane mall shoppers on Tuesday the Roar unveiled three looks they thought “epitomised” the tourist strip – Gold Coast resident Capper, garish white shoes and a scantily clad meter maid.

After eyeing off the meter maid, Capper thought United “could do a lot worse” than use him as a mascot.

“I made the Sydney Swans about $100 million in exposure mate,” Capper said.

But Capper admitted he had not seen a soccer game in “20 years” and couldn’t name a single Gold Coast player.

“Apart from that, it is not a bad game,” Capper said.

At least Gold Coast’s billionaire owner Clive Palmer had made an impression – sort of.

Asked if he could name him, Capper offered: “That rich guy who has a good hair piece.

“Yeah, he’s good. But we do need more of those sorts of guys in sport.”

Judging by his resume, Capper is up for most things.

So maybe it wasn’t that much of a stretch to see the ex-AFL player, one-time porn star and would-be politician at an A-League promotion.

“Why not put the soccer on the map,” Capper said.

It seems desperate times warrant desperate measures for the Roar who attracted just 7,677 in their last home game against Sydney FC on September 27 – the average crowd for the clash is almost 25,000.

“The crowds haven’t been great this season but it has been like that across the league, so anything we can do to get a bigger crowd this weekend would be what we are looking for,” recovering Roar youngster Michael Zullo said.

“I don’t think this (stunt) should fire them (United) up. It’s about making everyone aware of the big game this weekend.”

Brisbane’s Dutch striker Sergio van Dijk didn’t quite know where to look at Tuesday’s promotion – but he agreed they did not have anything quite like meter maids, or Capper for that matter, in Holland.

“It’s too cold to walk around like that,” van Dijk said nodding at the meter maid.

And is there a Capper equivalent in the Netherlands?

“We don’t play AFL,” was van Dijk’s polite reply.

© AAP 2012

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