Dad. “Hello? I’m sorry? Really? Yes of course…hang on…..”
“Roger, would you want to be a mascot for Spurs?
Me. “What? No, no I don’t think so”
Dad. “Yes hello, yes he’d love to, thanks”. Click.
This is how I remember the conversation going, sitting in our living room watching TV while we ate dinner. Someone from Tottenham Hotspur’s office had just rung dad and asked if I would like to be the Spurs mascot for their home match against Leeds United in a few months time. As a lifelong Spurs fan, my dad was very excited for us both and although my enthusiasm was nonexistent in that moment, he quickly and luckily said yes on my behalf.
The tradition of having a mascot began in Brazil in the 1970s and became a popular feature at English football clubs in the 1990s. Being a One Hotspur Junior Member, you have the opportunity to be entered into a free prize draw for this unique experience.
As a Canadian reading this you may be thinking why Spurs and my dad would want me to be dressed up in a giant furry animal suit at a Spurs game, and you would be right to question that. A mascot you see, in the English football sense is not an oversized puppet with some unfortunate person inside it geeing up the crowd and antagonizing the away fans. No, a mascot is a child, dressed in the full replica team kit—typically a cute 6-year-old or someone less fortunate than the average child—who comes out with the team just before kick off and runs around the pitch, kicks a few balls and gets their picture taken with the captains. They then adoringly skip back off the pitch in their oversized kit to a standing ovation by the crowd.
I was not an adoringly cute 6-year-old, I was a somewhat gangly, awkward 15-year-old, who if stood next to Andy Sinton and Stephen Carr—2 of our first X1— would tower over them, raising the obvious question of “what’s this kid doing there, is he the oldest mascot in history?”.
Many things gave me a vast sense of dread about being a mascot. Mainly, I was not a very good footballer, and I was worried about kicking the ball around with Teddy Sheringham and company and making a fool of myself. Secondly, I was and still am quite petrified of doing things in front of crowds, so kicking said footballs around very badly with Teddy and co. in front of 33,000 fans, was up there with one of the most agonizing things that could happen to me. Being a regular match goer, I knew the humour the crowd sometimes got from seeing the mascot fail, albeit normally in a “ah the little kid can hardly run isn’t that cute” kind of way. I imagined what this would look like for a ghostly pale 15-year-old with a bowl cut, flailing around miskicking the ball and tripping over his feet.
Yes, thanks nice Spurs person on the end of the phone, but it’s a big fat “NO, thank you very much”.
Well dad had said yes, and the day arrived. We were given 3 tickets to the game. 1 for me, 1 for dad and 1 for one of my best mates Gary who had got me into supporting Spurs along with dad when I was 7. We arrived at the reception area which you entered through the West Stand players entrance. We saw some of the trophies on display (yes, we used to win those) and then were shown to the players’ lounge.
I got changed into the full kit that was given to me and then the next thing I remember is standing in the tunnel waiting for the players to come out of the changing room and line up ready to walk out to the pitch just before kick off at 3 o’clock.
Out came Teddy and Darren Anderton followed by the rest of the Spurs team and then the Leeds team. Teddy stood beside me and said hello and gave me a ball. "What a nice man" I thought. Ian Rush, the ex-Liverpool striker was the Leeds captain and stood opposite me as Leeds lined up alongside Spurs in the tunnel. It was all a bit surreal and I’m not sure I really could grasp what was happening.
Then we were ready to go, and Teddy said, “just jog out with me to the center circle then we’ll run over to the goal”. Oh crap, I’m grasping it now.
Out we jogged, my head firmly down. Highly embarrassed but no dread. Instead, the WOW factor had set in. How fortunate am I? 33,040 people at the game—to be precise—wishing they could do what I was doing. Teddy now passing the ball back and forth to me. Over we trotted to Ian Walker in goal. My turn to shoot at the soon to be England’s keeper. This is nuts. Teddy teed me up and I hit 3 abysmal shots at Walker. One was a bobbled shot against the post but I did hit one satisfying half volley into his hands. So close. “That will do” I thought, "not too bad". A quick jog back to the center circle for a picture with the captains then a composed jog off the pitch waving to the photographer and my dad, grinning like an idiot.
I don’t remember much of the game. We won 1-0, a goal by Anderton assisted by my new mate Teddy. We went to the players lounge afterwards where Teddy said I was the lucky mascot. A throwaway line he no doubt said every time we won but it made me feel quite good. We drank lots of coke and went around the lounge getting our shirts and programs signed. It was fantastic, a real pinch me moment. I have a vivid memory of Sol Campbell sitting in the corner with his friends and family appearing particularly moody…maybe he was wishing he was somewhere else in North London, perhaps 5 miles down the Seven Sisters road, who knows?
And then it was over and that was it, what an exceptional day.
As a fan for 35 years now, it is still one of the best days of my life. These days it’s 11 mascots who line up with the players for the photo on the pitch, but they don’t get to warm up with the players which makes me appreciate that day even more.
So, thanks dad for paying for my junior membership but most importantly saying yes to the Spurs person on the phone. And thank you Spurs for giving one extremely undeservingly lucky fan the free experience of a lifetime. COYS!
Comments