Saturday’s Ipswich Town game against Sheffield United might not have been a classic but it was a game to remember for one fan.
Saturday’s Ipswich Town game against Sheffield United might not have been a classic but for one young fan it will be a game he remembers for the rest of his life.
Ten-year-old Matthew Hall was fortunate enough to win the match shirt of Town captain Luke Chambers after holding up his homemade sign at the game.
Matthew’s cheeky question and Chambers’ response was met with a phenomenal response online with the club even posting about the sweet moment on its Twitter feed with the caption “If you don’t ask you don’t get!”
Matthew’s dad, Rob Hall, said “my boy saw some Premier League players do it and he’s a big Ipswich Town fan.”
Having decided that he would try the same with his heroes at Portman Road Matthew set about putting the sign together and took it the game against Sheffield on Saturday.
Mr Hall said his son seemed confident about what the outcome would be.
Matthew and his family sit close to where the players warm up and so Matthew made sure that Luke Chambers spotted his sign before the game.
Sure enough Chambers did and indicated he would return after the game had finished.
Despite their initial confidence Mr Hall said that they were concerned that the player might not return considering the final score: “I wasn’t sure if he was going to do it when they didn’t win.”
However, Chambers did return to Matthew after the 0-0 draw and gave him the shirt he had so desperately asked for.
Professional photographer Dan Sakal caught the moment when the skipper came over to see Matthew on camera and shared it online.
Mr Sakal said: “I was packing away after the game. when I saw this little kid over the side of the pitch.
“All the fans behind him were cheering.
“Luke Chambers is always really good with the fans.”
Mr Hall was equally praising of the skipper’s gesture saying that his treatment of fans was a real positive at the club.
After receiving the shirt on Saturday Mr Hall says his son hasn’t let it out of his sight
Matthew wore Chamber’s shirt for the rest of the day and then kept hold of it for the rest of the weekend.
“He takes it wherever he goes,” said Mr Hall.
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