Twitter to the rescue: England fan comes all the way to Russia and forgets World Cup tickets
"Suitcase, vuvuzela, replica shirt... yeah I've definitely got everything I need"
There’s not much that can dampen the spirits of boozed-up footy fans on tour; they’re with all their best mates, they’re enjoying a “few” pints and they’re soaking up their passion of passions: football.
But one thing that might turn out to be a slight fly in the ointment is travelling thousands of miles to watch the World Cup and then realising you’ve left your ticket back at home.
And that’s exactly what happened to Douglas Moreton, from Bristol.
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ITV news editor Dan Howells happened to encounter the unlucky lad at a hotel in Nizhny Novgorod, Western Russia, before the England-Panama game.
“This is Douglas. He was at our hotel in Volgograd. We’ve just bumped in to him in Nizhny Novgorod & he’s realised he’s left his match tickets in the drawer at home in Bristol. If anyone’s got a spare one let me know,” Dan said on Twitter.
Amazingly, after Douglas’ story went semi-viral on Twitter – someone actually came through with a spare ticket in a rare example of the internet not being a swirling cesspool of misery.
But in an unfortunate turn of events, after tracking down a spare ticket, Dan couldn’t find hapless Douglas.
He said: “DOUGLAS UPDATE. The lads from @sport_options have found him a ticket but now we can’t find him. If anyone spots him, tell him I’ve left a message at his hotel reception.”
People were even ringing his hotel room… but nothing.
We’ve really got to say, Douglas: PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER MAN! You can’t be getting on flights around the world all willy nilly not knowing what’s up. Just a little bit of organisation will get you a long way.
In the end, Douglas was finally found but not in time to get to the game, meaning he missed England’s 6-1 triumph.
But still, while there wasn’t a happy ending, at least there was a show of actual human kindness, which we all need in these miserable times - and hopefully ol’ Douglas will remember to bring his tickets next time; they tend to be quite useful for getting in to things.
(Image: Getty)
