In soccer, unlike other sports like baseball and American football, you cannot keep the game ball when it goes into the stands. Sometimes, when someone is new to soccer, they act confused in terms of what to do with the ball if they find themselves with a wayward shot or pass but usually figure out they need to toss the ball back for play to continue.
In an English Championship, second level game between Reading and Preston North End, this Reading fan saw an opportunity to escape with the game ball, not caring whether or not he should toss the ball back. That was until the blasted stadium steps factored in to his demise.
https://youtu.be/N3nYgD3uRG4?t=1m16s
As you can see in the video, this wasn’t a well thought out plan but it was a plan nonetheless. After catching the ball from another fan, this person who is apparently a Reading fan, immediately ran up the steps to try and escape. After tripping on the steps and falling, he didn’t give up and tried to run again but was stopped by a rather calm security guard.
This game would go from bad to worse for Reading as they lost to Preston North End 2-1. So it’s not even possible for this fan to give the excuse that he was time wasting for Reading in order to get a result. They were down 1-0 at the time of the goal. Either way, it got a bit of a laugh from the fans in this section and this fan the hard earned lesson of just throwing the ball back on the field next time.
