Images by Martyn Nolan
MOSSLEY AFC can claim the title for having the oldest mascot for a game – an 85-YEAR-OLD!
And Audrey Marsden put in a starring performance as she proved a lucky charm.
The pensioner led out her beloved team for their Northern Premier League West Division match against Hednesford Town as she celebrated the landmark, alongside a boy 80 years her junior.
And she did not know she would be doing it until she turned up at their Seel Park ground on Tuesday, September 10 – but wants to do it when she turns 90.
Audrey, who sponsored the match as part of her present and was with daughter Eileen and Joanne, walked out hand in hand with Mossley goalkeeper Fin Madigan.
She then did the full pre-match presentation with ref Umar Ahmed and handshake with visiting players.
Some of the home side hugged her as she made her way off, after rolling the match ball with her walking stick.
Now the sprightly octogenarian, who travels to away games – having sandwiches, pork pies and a whisky on the return journey, hopes to do it again.
Audrey – who was actually born in London as her father was based at Woolwich Barracks but moved when World War II broke out – said, as she wore a badge saying ‘S***, I’m 85’: “I didn’t know I was going to be mascot.
“I only found out when I got to the ground. Chairman Stephen Porter made me do it!
“I did the toss of the coin and said ‘heads or tails’ but I didn’t kick the ball. I rolled it with my stick – a bit of golf. It was a pretty good putt.
“All the players, from both sides, were all right. They all looked after me.
“I did it when I turned 80, I’ve done it now I’m 85 and I’ll do it when I’m 90 – in my wheelchair with my daughters wheeling me out!”
Audrey proved a lucky omen for Mossley as they defeated heavily-fancied Hednesford Town 1-0 through Mason Fawns’ fine goal.
As well as her daughters, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, news of her part in Mossley’s win would also have reached son Graham, who lives in London.
As she took her seat in the boardroom, she was impressed that they ‘put the heating on’ and after making her way up Seel Park’s main stand from being centre circle of attention, she admitted: “I’ll go and have a little minute.”
And having first watched Mossley AFC some 70 years ago after moving to the town when she was one-year-old, she told of the role it has played in her life.
She added: “When I was 80, I knew I was going to be mascot, so I was ready for it. I wasn’t ready for this one, though.
“I go to all Mossley’s matches and they look after me. I first came as a teenager and watched them until I got married in 1963.
“My husband Alan died very early, though, so then I came back to watching them after then.”