When Northampton Town's Liam Davis scored an injury time equalizer against Rotherham on Saturday, the home crowd went nuts as the point earned kept them out of the League Two relegation zone for another day. Of course, in moments like this, it's not too unusual for fans to invade the pitch out of unbridled joy. It is a bit unusual to see a young man in a motorized wheelchair methodically moving his way up the pitch, though.
That's what happened after Davis' goal as 18-year-old quadriplegic computer games programming student Derry Felton decided to motor through the field of play. From the Daily Mail:
[Felton] said: "I said to my mate 'If they score I will go on the pitch'.
"But I didn't believe that they would. Then they did and it was a bit of a blur really.
"I didn't know what was happening and then I was in the middle of the pitch and I just thought how did I get here?
"It was just a spur of the moment thing and I never thought it would end up on You Tube or make me famous or anything.
"I don't know if I would ever do it again, because it just sort of happened."
Though he didn't appear to be particularly elusive, the stewards at Sixfields Stadium didn't do much to stop him. I mean, they can't exactly tackle a quadriplegic in a motorized wheelchair and drag him off the pitch. And it turns out they can't prosecute Derry -- who has been quadriplegic since the age of two -- either. Said a club spokesman:
"Obviously we can never condone any supporter coming onto the pitch but at the same time we understand the excitement and the reactions shown."
Translation: We really can't do anything about this without looking like jerks, can we?
Amanda Marcum Leila Arcieri Kate Mara Izabella Scorupco Carla Campbell
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