Lechie's sporting dream comes true

Imagine the scenario. You are a Spurs and Richmond Tigers AFL fan from Melbourne travelling across Europe.

Right at the end of your travelling schedule, you manage to get tickets for your first-ever live Spurs game and it's a big one against Manchester City at Wembley.

Unbeknown to you, Richmond players are also in London and attending the City game.

Unbeknown to you, we've asked our official Australia Supporters' Club OzSpurs to collate a few questions from members that we can put to the Aussie Rules players for a Spurs TV interview pitchside.

OzSpurs mention you are going to the City game. We get hold of you. We bring you pitchside to interview the Tigers AFL players at Wembley, at your first Spurs match.

What are the odds of that?

Lechie Gallop described it as 'something not too far away from winning the lottery'.

Now back home in Oz, Lechie reflected: "The whole evening was something I could never have imagined before I left Australia. For me it was exciting enough to be just attending a Spurs game, as much of the final part of my trip away had revolved around it.

"So to get the opportunity to not only get pitchside and get a quick photo with Dele, but also to get to meet and interview the players from my favourite sporting club at home was really a dream come true."

Thrown into the deep end, Lechie also did a great job for Spurs TV - drawing praise from the Richmond players! "He's a natural," said Jayden Short.

Lechie added: "Being pitchside and having the opportunity to take in the atmosphere of Wembley from the players' perspective is something I will never forget. Even though I was prepared for it, the size of the stadium took my breath away and I couldn’t help but compare it to the MCG back home in Melbourne.

"Interviewing the Richmond players was something that certainly had me outside my comfort zone. I felt like a rabbit in the headlights for much of the time! Having said that, it was great to be able to ask questions to the players from the OzSpurs community.

"OzSpurs is an amazing community. Everyone I spoke to within the club could not have been more supportive in helping me at first get a ticket and then ultimately getting this amazing opportunity, so I owe the OzSpurs community a very big 'thanks' for all their help!"

Meanwhile, the Richmond players also took it all in from pitchside. Champions of the AFL's regular season in 2018 (they lost in the semi-finals of the Grand Plate, won by West Coast) they are used to huge sporting occasions, but looking around Wembley, said: "It's unbelievable to be here," said Nathan Broad. And as they all wore their Spurs shirts, Nathan added: "You've got us, we're all hooked."

Here's their interview with Lechie - with questions supplied by members of OzSpurs.

From Chris Beard, Sydney
Is there any player in the Spurs team that you could see making the transition to AFL Football and what position would they play?
Kane Lambert: "It's got to be Shorty, he can do keep ups all day. Maybe we should get a ball and get him to keep a few up!"

From Ian Lillywhite
Kane Lambert is an aerobic beast, but could he handle playing 50 or so games per season compared to 22 in the AFL?
Kane: "I don't know about that...I spend plenty of time on the physio table - 22 games is enough for me!"

From Jeremy Miles
How do you expect the atmosphere at Wembley compare to an AFL final at the MCG?
Dan Butler: "We're all looking forward to it. We went to a game earlier in the week which was pretty loud and I reckon it will be pretty crazy tonight."

From Mark Lawson, President, OzSpurs
OzSpurs gather all over Australia to watch Spurs play. We are waiting for you guys to come join us and watch Spurs at the Imperial Hotel in Melbourne...
Kane: "You know what, we'll be there! All the boys are on board!"

From Lechie Gallop, roving Spurs TV reporter
Who is the best player on FIFA?
Nathan: "We actually had a FIFA tournament but I wasn't part of it. Dan was, Jason - Jason came last - Dan took the honours. So we'll say Dan is best."

The interview ended with the Richmond players belting out their AFL theme song 'We're from Tigerland' after a request from OzSpurs member, Ross Payne.