Britain’s pushiest dad ( and hapless goalie son! ) gets 25m fans
IT’S just eight seconds long, but the clip of a father pushing his goalkeeper son to make a diving save in a junior football match has set the internet alight.
Phone footage of Phil Hatfield’s instinctive act to nudge six-year-old Osian into the path of a goal-bound shot had been seen an astonishing 25 million times by last night.
And the footage has also provided an unexpected boost for Osian Osian’s s team, Bow Street Magpies. The youngsters, based in Aberystwyth, have received sponsorship offers, including free goalkeeper gloves for Osian, and the prospect of meeting the Welsh football team and manager Ryan Giggs.
Plumber’s merchant Mr Hatfield, 35, told the MoS: ‘We never expected this at all. Apparently, there have been things from India, from Japan, Australia, America, it’s been quite incredible.’
Despite Osian’s timely fall into the path of the ball during his goalkeeping debut, Mr Hatfield’s effort was in vain as the Magpies con- ceded dd the h rebound b and ended up drawing 2-2 with Llanilar.
The father-of-two insisted: ‘It was just me guiding him really, it wasn’t as if I threw him to the floor on the ball. Some of the comments online were a bit mean but we ignore them. It’s been generally positive.’
According to Mr Hatfield, all the children in the team have loved the publicity, with Osian, who started playing football only six weeks ago, keen to get back on the pitch. ‘He does want to have another go in goal – I believe someone has offered to send him some goalkeeper gloves so that’ll be good. He just wants to play, he really enjoys it.’