Mabel Rose Arnold is arguably one of the biggest and oldest Hammers fans on the planet. She turned 100 on the same day as West Ham played Crystal Palace at the Boleyn ground earlier this month.
She’s met Bobby Moore, married the man who helped along a young Trevor Brooking, and has had her name sung by 35,000 of West Ham fans.
“My birthday was fantastic,” Mabel told the Barking and Dagenham Post.
“Some of my family flew in from Belfast for the day, and they arrived at the same time as the postman brought my letter from the Queen. That was lovely.”
Mabel’s son Graham told her at the beginning of the season that her birthday coincided with a fixture against Crystal Palace at the Boleyn Ground. “I said, ‘Won’t that be a good day, if God lets me live?’”, Mabel laughed.
His late husband Richard was picked up by West Ham when a club representative saw him coaching local boys and embarked on a career with the Irons. “I went to all the games,” Mabel said. “I remember Bobby Moore coming over to me after the ‘64 final with Preston and asking for the first dance.
“I said, pointing to my husband, ‘No – he’s first’, which was funny since all the girls there wanted him. But, you know, that’s all water under the bridge now.”
Mabel, who already has a seat reserved in the Olympic Stadium, said she also enjoyed a “wonderful surprise” when close to 40 family and friends joined her for a party arranged by son Graham.