Centenarian Wolves supporter Sydney Ball was given a day to remember last weekend when he watched his beloved football team overcome Ipswich Town in a crucial Premier League clash from the comfort of the directors’ box – all thanks to Wolves Wishes.
Ipswich native Sydney, who was originally from London, has supported the club for over 60 years, inheriting his Old Gold obsession from his late wife Dorothy and son Jeff. He was treated to the best seats in the house at Portman Road on Saturday as Wolves fought from behind to claim victory over the Tractor Boys.
The 100-year-old became a local celebrity when he was featured on both the live world feed broadcast of the match, as well as on BBC’s Match of the Day coverage after Wolves provided Sydney with a golden opportunity to see his favourite team at his local ground.
“I totally enjoyed Wolves beating Ipswich,” Sydney told wolves.co.uk. “I had a lovely time. I thought the hospitality and everything was very good actually and I was very impressed with it, but the game itself had everything.
“I was very impressed with the Wolves. Looking at our record, I think we should be a bit higher up the league really, but the last few games, we haven’t done too badly.”
Sydney’s visit to Portman Road came off the back of an application to Wolves Wishes, a Wolves Foundation led initiative, which gives back to Old Gold supporters from across the world who deserve a treat from the club.
Whether that is a fan with a story of fantastic loyalty, a supporter that goes out of their way to help others, or someone who has been going through a difficult time themselves.
For Sydney, it was his friends – and Ipswich supporters – Gemma and Paul Chenery, landlords of the Brantham Bull pub in Manningtree, which Sydney visits regularly, who reached out to Wolves to ask if the club would provide a small gift for his 100th birthday earlier this year.
Gemma said: “Sydney comes to our meet up Wednesday group that we hold at the pub every week and we knew he was going to be 100 this year, so we put on a bit of a party for him at the pub.
“He’d always had a bit of football banter with my husband and myself, as we’re Town fans, telling us that Wolves are better than us, but he would also tell us stories about his wife Dorothy and his son Jeff.
“He’s lost his wife and his son, who were both big Wolves fans, and he’s told us lots of stories about watching Wolves, so just before his birthday, I thought I’d get in touch and just ask for a card signed by the players – but it's literally gone mad.”
Wolves responded ahead of his 100th birthday, sending a package full of Old Gold gifts for Sydney, while the birthday boy also received a personal message from one of his favourite Wolves players, Steve Bull.
Sydney said: “I got the video from Bully, I got the cap, I got the jersey and some gloves. It was nice – a lovely parcel. Very thoughtful.”
Sydney celebrating his 100th birthday at the Brantham Bull pub with his Wolves Wishes gift set.
Gemma added: “After receiving the gifts, I sent a card to Jeanette [Walker, Wolves Foundation administrator] – who’s been amazing – because I wanted to send her a picture of him with his Wolves hat on and his balloons and everything, just to say thank you.
“But then she got in touch and asked if he would like to go to the Wolves game against Ipswich as a special guest – knowing he’s from Ipswich. We waited a few weeks to tell him because we thought it might have overwhelmed him a bit too much, but he was literally over the moon.
“When we turned up to his house to pick him up, he had his Wolves tie on, his Wolves scarf on, and he obviously gave us all the abuse on the way to the game. When we got to the ground, we saw a few Town fans outside and he was telling them they’ve all got the wrong colour scarf on – so the banter started before we even got in!
“To be honest, it didn’t matter about the score from our point of view because it was an amazing day for us seeing him enjoy it. We felt like we were there as his bodyguards and he was some kind of celebrity!
“Everyone was amazing, the Ipswich staff were amazing with him and then obviously meeting Robert Plant, both the Johns [Gough and Bowater, Wolves directors] and the shirt that he got – he was totally overwhelmed.
“He kept smiling the whole day. He kept laughing and saying how he couldn't believe what was going on. Even when we went to see him on Tuesday, he’s saying how his feet are only just back on the ground. It’s been absolutely amazing, a whirlwind for him and he hasn't stopped talking about it.”
A former Lancaster bomber pilot in the RAF, Sydney served in the Second World War when he was just a teenager, and it was after the war when his love for Wolves began.
Despite living in London, and having a Leyton Orient supporting father, Sydney’s son Jeff – who was just eight at the time but went on to become a popular member of London Wolves – was pulled in by the lights of Molineux. Sydney and his wife would soon follow their son’s allegiances, where they witnessed some of the best moments of the club’s history.
“It was amazing how we became Wolves fans really, because we lived on the edge of London and Jeff didn’t like Tottenham, he didn’t like West Ham, he didn’t like Arsenal or Chelsea, and for some unknown reason, he just went for Wolves and it spun off from there.
“Because he supported them, so did his mother, and because my wife and son both supported them, that pulled me in as well. Don’t ask me why he went for Wolves when we were living in London, but there was a group of them, about five or six, who used to go up from London to Wolverhampton every week to watch the matches at Molineux and he was quite fanatical about it as well.
“My parents had a cottage in Canterbury, and when he was only about 11 or 12, Jeff used to leave us in Canterbury and go all the way up to Wolverhampton just to watch the Wolves play. He was that keen, and it was his love of Wolves that rubbed off onto me.”
Wolves has been in the blood for Sydney ever since, and he stuck by the club even through the darker times, as the team dropped through the divisions during the 1980s. But a trip to Cambridge United during the decade remains one of his treasured memories as a supporter.
Sydney taking in the hospitality at Portman Road, while meeting Wolves director John Gough and club vice-president - and Rock God - Robert Plant.
“We all went to watch Wolves when we were playing Cambridge United in the third division. We all went to Cambridge as it was close by and the away fans are usually put in one block, but for some reason, we got put amongst a lot of Cambridge fans – maybe because of where we lived.
“But we were amongst all these Cambridge fans and when Wolves scored, Dorothy leapt in the air by two foot and screamed, ‘Goal!’ And because all these Cambridge United fans were around us, suddenly we had all these hate-filled eyes looking at us. If she’d have been a man, I think she’d have been punched up! But they still jostled us.
“But it was so funny. She leapt about two foot in the air and screamed goal. Imagine doing that to the opposition fans in their own end, but me, being the coward I was, I just muttered 'goal' into my coat lapel – because I knew where I was!”
Growing old in Ipswich without his late wife and son, Sydney has gained a new family in the form of his Brantham Bull friends.
“That’s one of the penalties you have when you get old, because all the people you’ve known, they all pass, but of course, you go and make new friends, and I’ve done that with Paul and Gemma. I look on them as very close friends – and I shouldn’t say this in front of them – but they’re a very nice couple and Paul’s not a bad chef either.
“He’s got the best restaurant in Essex and Suffolk. Always remember that if you do come down to this part of the world, the Brantham Bull is the place to go – he pays me to do his PR!”
He has also had to settle with following Wolves from afar, which is why the chance to see his team take on his local club and come out on top last weekend was a moment he will remember forever.
But his Wolves Wish doesn’t end there. Sydney will be in attendance at Molineux for the first time in several years on Sunday, as a special guest for the Premier League visit of Tottenham Hotspur to the Black Country.
“I will be coming up to Molineux next Sunday with Gemma for the Tottenham game and I’m really looking forward to it as it’s been a very long time since I last went to Molineux.
“In fact, the match I went to on Saturday was the first match I’d been to for years. But if I come up there to the Molineux, they've got to win. Tell them I’m coming up there, so my instructions are, they’ve got to win!”
If you know someone who is deserving of a Wolves Wish, click here for more information.
