A woman claims she was left bruised and injured after a man jumped two rows of seats and landed on her during Wales’ World Cup play-off celebrations. Sarah Matthews, who is from the Pencoed area of Cardiff, is an "avid football fan" but said she was left “shaken and annoyed” after a fellow Welsh fan took celebrations too far.
According to Sarah, the incident took place after Wales scored its winning goal against Ukraine during Sunday’s match, which sealed the deal for Rob Page’s men to victory and a spot at the World Cup in Qatar this year.
Read more: Ukraine football fan gets lost in Cardiff and has amazing Welsh welcome
As expected, emotions were running high during the highly-anticipated game, but Sarah said she was left disappointed after one fan’s celebration left her injured. Sarah attended the football match alongside her son, her friends and their children.
Sarah said that the group stood at the left hand side of the Canton stand and were very excited about the game. “We’ve been to every single home game for the last 10 years,” she said.
"Before Sunday’s match, the atmosphere was absolutely amazing - everyone was excited and nervous. We went in early to make sure we could get in, we saw all the players in training and then the stadium started to fill up. From the time the game started, everyone was dancing and chanting.
"As soon as that goal was scored, everyone was cheering and hugging each other. Then, this guy from two rows above me jumped - he hurt the woman and man in the row behind me and then landed on me.
"He landed on my neck, pushing me into my chair, and his legs kicked the back of my legs as well. I had no idea what was going on. Another football fan grabbed him to get him off me. Everyone was shouting at him for being an idiot.
"But he didn’t even say sorry, it was like he wasn’t bothered, he just didn’t care. So my friend then left to get a steward, he came up and just warned this man not to do it again. They didn’t even come and check if I was okay. They literally said to the guy don’t do it again.”
Following the incident, Sarah said she has been left with bruises and other injuries. She said: “All of the front of my legs are bruised from when he landed on me. I got rammed to the chair and pushed forward. Then, on the back of my right leg from when he landed and his foot kicked it - that’s all bruised.
"I haven’t got any bruises on my neck but it’s really stiff. I’m still in pain now, and I was in pain for the duration of the game, which ruined the experience for me. My friend’s daughter was a bit shaken up by the incident, but we stayed for the rest of the game because we had the boys with us and they wanted to see the game.”
According to Sarah, more should be done to ensure safety in crowds at big sporting events. She said: “We went to the last match and a boy had done a similar thing. We’d seen it because it was right by us and he smashed someone’s glasses. We reported that as well, but no one seemed to care at the stadium.
"When it happened to me, I was physically in pain but emotionally I was really upset by it. I was then anxious for the rest of the game just in case we scored again and he would do the same thing again."
She adede"Our concern was that there were kids beside us. Thankfully, it landed on me and not a child. When I shared the photos of my injuries on Facebook, two people told me that it happens all the time and that I was lucky it wasn’t any worse.
"I understand the game was massive, but you can sing, drink and cheer to celebrate - you don’t have to put other people in danger. It was just idiotic behaviour.
"I was really annoyed by the response to the incident as well. If they don’t make an example of someone like that, people are just going to keep doing it. I think there should be something in place to make sure that people that do stuff like that should be moved or banned. They are a danger to themselves and other people."
In response, Football Association of Wales said: "The FAW and Cardiff City Stadium are aware of this incident and have corresponded directly with Sarah about her experience."
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