Dylan Booth will never forget his 5th birthday.
He was in Dunedin Hospital, yet again, feeling pretty miserable with cystic fibrosis, when Otago rugby great Tony Brown came into his room and gave him a rugby jersey.
"That moment always made me realise how awesome the players are and the great things they do off the footy field.
"I’d say that’s what really put fuel to the fire for me."
He has a jersey from nearly every season over the years.
"In my collection, I have now over 60 match-worn jerseys, but I also collect training jerseys as well and I have a decent amount of 1990s Otago and Highlanders T-shirts and hats.
"One of my favourite reasons why I collect jerseys is the story behind them, where they’ve been, who wore them — that type of stuff.
"I used to spend a lot of time in and out of hospital because I have cystic fibrosis and one of the few things I looked forward to was watching the boys go at it.
"That’s definitely another reason why I’m so passionate about the clubs."
Mr Booth said he had found many of the jerseys at thrift stores, online and by going to games and meeting the players.
"From collecting jerseys, I’ve not only made a good handful of mates, but met a lot of players and had some wicked experiences, even doing things with the club.
"Getting those opportunities is really cool - I got to see a lot of behind-the scenes stuff."
And now he is calling on the public for help to complete his jersey lineup.
The only ones he is still searching for are the 1998 Otago Highlanders home match jersey, the 1998 "half-time" maroon jersey, the 1999 white away strip, the 2015 Highlanders finals jersey, and the 1998 Otago NPC finals jersey.
If anyone had one of these jerseys, Mr Booth said he was willing to buy it, or swap it for one he has multiple numbers of in his collection.
"My long-term goal is to set up a sporting museum to showcase my collection and other sporting memorabilia from these teams, from boots to medals.
"Would be a cool idea for the long run."
