Disabled Boro fan sees funny side of coin throwing

Sean Whetstone

8 years ago

Categories: News, Whispers

17-year-old disabled Middlesbrough fan, Owen Swift was one of the 3,000 Boro fans who made the trip to the London Stadium at the weekend and was caught up in the crowd problems.

He told the Middlesbrough Gazette“We could see West Ham fans drinking alcohol in the stands and they weren’t watching the game,”

“When West Ham scored their fans threw at least ten lager bottles and coins at our fans. A coin hit my wheelchair when Middlesbrough scored. The stewards seemed totally unbothered by what was happening.”

He tweeted West Ham official twitter account saying seeing the funny side by saying: “To the @WestHamUtd fan who threw this at me when we scored, thank you very much! It will go towards my new wheelchairchair #everyPennyCounts“

In a matter of hours, Owen had hundreds of retweets and comments of support from both Boro and West Ham fans. “I put the photo on Twitter as a bit of fun for my friends; I was shocked and surprised at how quickly and a number of retweets and messages I received.”

The Middlesbrough College student is looking to replace his special wheelchair he uses to play for Middlesbrough Powerchair FC first-team and is closing in on having raised 50% of his £8,000 target,

You can check out Owen’s JustGiving page