Ticket scam pupils 'loved' game

The game was a mix of history and agony for the students and players

A group of Midlands students affected by the World Cup ticket scam celebrated watching the England vs Portugal game on Saturday.

The group of 40 students from North Bromsgrove High School missed out two weeks ago when their tickets for a World Cup game failed to materialise.

But following the intervention of the government and FIFA they got tickets to see England's quarter-final clash.

Despite the disappointing result they were happy to see a moment of history.

"The atmosphere in the run up to the game was absolutely fantastic," said PE teacher Denise Burrows, who went with the group to Gelsenkirchen.

'Real low point'

"A lot of the students had never been to a football match before so to get to a World Cup game was tremendous for them, they were absolutely loving it.

"The game itself was disappointing. But in the penalties when Hargreaves scored and it looked like they could turn it round they were standing on their chairs chanting.

"But after Portugal won it they were really down, nobody spoke for half-an-hour. But they perked up on the way back with a lot of chanting on the flight home."

The group of 43 pupils aged 14 and 15, along with six teachers arrived back in the UK on Sunday morning.

"Two weeks ago was the real low point," said Mrs Burrows.

"But there's been a great build up over the last week since Wednesday when we knew we were going to see the England game.

"It's definitely made up for the disappointment of two weeks ago, at least we were there to see a little bit of history."