David Beckham kindly donated £50 to a non-league club while watching son Romeo make his debut for Brentford 's B team.
The former England captain, 47, was present at Park View Road, Welling on Tuesday to see his 20-year-old lad turn out for the Bees for the first time since signing on loan from Inter Miami until June. Romeo has temporality left's his dad's Major League Soccer franchise, based in Florida, to get a taste of English football over the next six months, and he started off by playing his part in a 3-2 cup victory.
Stealthily watching on in support and dressed in dark clothing, Beckham senior attempted to keep a low profile at the match, but fans and photographers soon noticed the ex- Manchester United and Real Madrid superstar's presence at the home of Erith & Belvedere. As the ninth-tier side hosted Brentford B in a London Senior Cup tie, Beckham paid his way through the turnstiles with cash and proceeded to make a generous donation to the Park View Road kitty.
As Erith director Paul Springett explained on Twitter after his team's defeat, the footballer-turned-celebrity "contributed £50 to the ladies in the tea hut". The move was described as "top class", but some viewed Beckham's gesture with more cynicism.
More seriously, a Brentford fan account quoted Springett's tweet and wrote: "Beckham spreading the Qatari cash to grassroots football." It comes after the 47-year-old acted as an ambassador for the recent World Cup in Qatar, a tournament shrouded in controversy due to Qatar's appalling human rights record and restrictive social laws, most notably affecting the LGBT+ community.
Beckham's sponsorship deal was reported to worth £150million and he defended his role in the lead-up to the tournament. "Qatar dreamed of bringing the World Cup to a place that it had never been before," the football icon, who once claimed that he felt "disgusted" by bidding process which led to Qatar being awarded 2022 tournament, stated at an event in November. "But that it wouldn't be enough just to achieve things on the pitch. The pitch would be a platform for progress."
Just as he was surrounded by controversy in the Middle East, Beckham was the subject of an onslaught in Welling from stunned supporters, many of whom were desperate for a selfie. The clamour forced him to make a quick getaway at full-time, hoping over a fence and running across a muddy field to avoid further attention.
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Romeo, meanwhile got plenty of attention on the pitch, coming on as second-half substitute when the scoreline was 2-1 to Erith and helping the Bees to a 3-2 comeback win. Speaking about his new signing's immediate impact, Brentford B head coach Neil MacFarlane said: "Romeo really drove us forward in the wing-back position.
"He created some really good moments for us with some terrific deliveries. He had an opportunity to score as well and I was thrilled with him and the group in general for keeping on the front foot. We never gave up and we got through."
