Sir Bobby Charlton on Monday night played host to 23 Chilean miners during Manchester United’s clash with Arsenal after inviting the group to Old Trafford in the midst of their two-month ordeal trapped underground in the San José mine.
Charlton, raised in the Northumberland mining village of Ashington, issued the invitation to the 33 trapped miners in an effort to raise spirits during their 69-day incarceration following a rock-fall in August.
And 23 of those miners were VIP guests in the directors’ box at Old Trafford on Monday night after flying to England for a two-day visit to Manchester.
Omar Reygadas, a 56-year-old bulldozer operator, said: “It’s an honour to be at Old Trafford. It’s the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ and we have only seen it on television.
“We are very glad and excited to watch the match against Arsenal. We have got enough footballers to make a team and maybe playManchester United!”
Having arrived in Manchester on Sunday, the group met for a photo-call at the ground before dining with Charlton in front of a Chilean folk group at Old Trafford’s Stretford Suite in the evening.
The group were also presented with United shirts with their names on the back, plus the number reflecting when they were lifted out of the mine during the rescue in October.
Four of the miners were given a guided tour of Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium by Jose Mourinho shortly after their rescue, but Charlton and United were keen to broaden out their trip to Manchester by offering the group a tour of the city before meeting Sir Alex Ferguson and his players on Monday.
While Ferguson and his first-team squad trained ahead of the clash with Arsenal, the miners took part in a football school in the academy building at United’s Carrington training ground before being taken for lunch in a restaurant.
Ironically, the miners’ visit to United stole the thunder of Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer, whose farewell to the club following his acceptance of the manager’s job at Norwegian club Molde was overshadowed by the South Americans’ presence at Old Trafford.
United manager Ferguson said: “When you look at how the miners have persevered and survived, well they are survivors, that’s what they are.
“There are examples in life that you should always take. The life of a miner, having to work in the bowels of the earth, where you can’t see anything.
“That’s a great sacrifice for somebody to have to earn their corn. I’m sure they will enjoy themselves while they are here.”
From:
No comments:
Post a Comment