English mascot chosen... to lead out Germany!

Blackleaf

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 9, 2004
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6 year old English boy Luke Moffat entered a competition to be a World Cup mascot.

He thought he would be walking out with the England team during one of their opening World Cup games. Instead, it has turned out that he will be leading out GERMANY - England's fiercest football arch-rivals and enemies.
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English mascot chosen... to lead out Germany!

By JAMES MILLS, Daily Mail

6th June 2006


6 year old Luke Moffat dressed in England shirt and carrying an English flag - but also wrapped in an ugly Hun shirt.

It seemed like a dream come true for Louis Moffat when he won a competition to be a World Cup mascot.

He excitedly told his school friends that he would be walking out with David Beckham and the other England players during one of their opening matches in Germany.

But when the prize was handed over by organisers McDonald's, he found he had been teamed instead with the old enemy, Germany.

Louis, six, did his best to put a brave face on the disappointment.

"I would have liked an England game because I don't know any of the German players," he said.

"I have been telling everyone I would be mascot for England. I had been looking forward to meeting the team."

The youngster, from Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, was among 50,000 hopefuls who entered the fast food giant's prize draw.

There were 22 winners from around the world who will be mascots for a variety of games.

After being informed of his success, Louis was invited to meet England's 1966 hat-trick hero Sir Geoff Hurst at a McDonald's restaurant last month. There he was given the impression that he would be an England mascot.

But now the youngster has been told he will be the German mascot for the tournament's opening game against Costa Rica in Munich on Friday.

'When the tickets arrived and it was for Germany his face fell'

Despite his disappointment, Louis will get to meet Chelsea's new signing Michael Ballack and former Tottenham Hotspur striker Jurgen Klinsmann, now the German manager.

But the boy's father Simon, 44, said his son had believed he would lead out England in one of the group fixtures against Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago or Sweden.

He said: "It's still a fantastic prize but I just think to promise a kid something like that then not go through with it is very unprofessional."

His mother Denise, 47, added: "When he met Geoff Hurst all the talk was about England and being a mascot for England.

"When the tickets arrived and it was for Germany his face fell."

McDonald's - one of the tournament's official sponsors - apologised for what was apparently a misunderstanding.

"Louis's family ticked the box to be entered into the prize draw for all matches and not just the England games," said a spokesman. "If there has been a misunderstanding, we completely apologise."

The same McDonald's competition offered the spectacular prize of the chance to be a mascot at the World Cup Final.

The intention was to find an England fan in the hope the national team would make it to the final. But the winner was a six-year-old half-Russian Scot who supports Ukraine.

Connor Gray, from Glasgow, said: "I'm so excited. But I don't want England in the final." [[Well, at least England QUALIFIED for the World Cup, you little Scottish git]].

McDonald's has already been at the centre of controversy over World Cup tickets.

This week, MPs were accused of abusing their privileges after McDonald's gave them free tickets - worth £1,000 on the black market - for England's opener on Saturday in Frankfurt.

The chain denied it gave the £70 tickets to up to 12 MPs to 'buy themselves influence', adding that most of its tickets went to ordinary fans.

dailymail.co.uk
 

Semperfi_dani

Electoral Member
Nov 1, 2005
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Edmonton
RE: English mascot chosen

Can i ask something as i am nieve living across the pond..but do Europeans still call German's Huns? I was under the impression that the word "Hun" was a slur, like Wop or Spic etc etc...am i incorrect in that assumption?
 

Daz_Hockey

Council Member
Nov 21, 2005
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RE: English mascot chosen

course we do...did you think it was all harmonious over here?

not at all....watch out for the blow-up spitfires around the grounds too.....nope, the old rivalries are still there, the words "wop" or "spic" havent disappered neither...it's just the word "Hun" is used in the tabloids all the time here..it's a popular one
 

Semperfi_dani

Electoral Member
Nov 1, 2005
482
0
16
Edmonton
RE: English mascot chosen

Oh ok...its just that when i saw the blurb under the picture saying that the kid wore a Hun shirt, it just sort of threw me because i am not use to reading that in our politically correct papers over here. I am not saying that its wrong or right or that North America is superior (we are not by far), but i haven't heard the word hun since i was a kid!

So thats why i am surprised when i read it in that newspaper blurb...