Over the weekend we brought you the happy tale of the Toronto-based Sunderland supporter who travelled all the way from Canada to find “Britain Closed” signs up everywhere. Having missed out on SAFC v Bolton Wanderers, she managed to get a ticket for the sell-out game at Chelsea this Saturday. Here’s a follow-up from the North-eastern press …
Salut! Sunderland is indebted to The Northern Echo‘s Andy Richardson, who has caught up splendidly with our story of the Canadian SAFC fan promised a seat at Stamford Bridge this Saturday after being robbed by the weather of the game she’d planned to attend.
Andy informs us that the supporter is 39-year-old Sarah Harriman and that it was indeed a call to BBC’s Radio 5 Live’s 606 programme that led to the offer of a ticket for the Chelsea match.
Displaying impressive grasp of footballspeak, Sarah apparently told the 606 presenter Alan Green: “I was absolutely gutted. I just wanted to see my lads play.”
The Chelsea fan who came to Sarah’s rescue from a football-free 5,400-mile round trip was one Pat from Hampshire. Pat’s husband couldn’t go to the game and she offered Sarah his seat.
Sarah, whose attachment to Sunderland is a relatively recent phenomenon, having started with Roy keane’s appointment as manager, is naturally accustomed to life in a country that takes snow in its stride instead of regarding each falling flake as a threat to all mobility and activity.
But she wasn;t surprised our Bolton tie was postponed, telling the Echo: “I was caught in some snow on Thursday night walking back to my guesthouse in Roker so I knew that the game might not go ahead.
“But I have still enjoyed my trip. This is a beautiful part of England.”
Is it too much to hope for that she also enjoys her visit to Stamford Bridge, including the result?