A teenage Plymouth Argyle fan is demanding an apology from her club – after being hit by a stray ball during a pre-match warm-up.
Alex Bowden-Manning was sat in the stands, a row from the front, when an errant shot from Pilgrims’ midfielder and utter bastard Connor Smith hit her in the shoulder.
Despite the fact complaining about being hit by a ball at a live football match is similar to climbing Everest and moaning about there being “a bit of a slope”, the 15-year-old fan feels she is now owed an apology.
The young Argyle supporter also claims she is too scared to watch another live game for fear of being viciously attacked by another ball.
“I was hit on my neck, shoulders and collarbone but had no apology or anything,” she said.
“He shot the ball in our direction, which hit me, but all he did was put his hands on his head and walked away.”
Bowden-Manning says she hasn’t been able to use her right arm since and that the injury is affecting her school work: she is currently in her GCSE year taking triple sciences with hopes of becoming a funeral director.
The young fan, whose favourite player is all-round nice guy Luke McCormick, also has ambitions of playing for the club’s Ladies side
“It’s frustrating me because I’m only 15 and I have my life ahead of me and my plans for what I want to do,” she said.
“I’m debating whether to go back to watch them play which has upset me because I love Argyle and I am a big fan.
“I know it was an accident, but they could at least apologise.”
Plymouth have issued a statement, saying: “We received emails from Alex and her mother over the weekend and yesterday, to which we responded this morning.
“The content of the email exchange is, naturally, private, but, of course, we were sorry to hear that Alex was accidentally hit by an errant football before Saturday’s match.
“Connor will also be writing to Alex personally.”
As unfortunate as the injuries are, it pretty much goes without saying that if you are going to a football match, there is a chance you will be hit by a football due to the heavy amount of ball-kicking involved in said football match.
To heavily paraphrase ‘Airplane!’: “She bought her ticket, she knew what she was getting herself into…I say: let her get hit in the shoulder by a ball.”
