Logan will never forget West Ham United’s Unmissable Football tour to Western Australia.
The nine-year-old’s great auntie Susan Benson entered Logan in a competition being run by Optus Stadium and Channel 7 Perth to be the Hammer for the Day.
Hundreds of football fans spotted the competition on television and entered, and Susan was the randomly selected lucky winner, nominating Logan as Hammer for the Day and giving her great nephew an experience neither he, nor Susan nor her husband Mike will remember forever.
“I love entering competitions and we love the soccer, so when it came up, I thought ‘I’ll have a go!’ and I was totally surprised when they rung and said I’d won!” said a beaming Susan, speaking at a pre-match fan party at Optus Stadium.
“I did enter for myself, but there was an option to enter for kids. I’d entered three times for myself but, after the fourth time, the next thing they were ringing me and I’d won!
“They said it was more kid-oriented so I thought of Logan as I don’t have any grandchildren. He is nine and plays soccer at school, so I asked his Dad if he could be Hammer for the Day and he was thrilled. We’ve had a great day!
“My husband is from England and is a Leeds United fan, so we all kind of jumped on with that but, after the amazing time we’ve had today, we’ll all be supporting West Ham!”
Fittingly, the family live in the northern Perth suburb of Aveley, which shares a name with the south Essex town many West Ham supporters call home.
And the Bensons are happy Hammers themselves now after being welcomed warmly by the Premier League side on their visit to Western Australia.
“What haven’t we done?! Logan was involved in the press conference with David Moyes and Jarrod Bowen, we watched training, we met the kit man to see how he gets it all ready, Logan fist-bumped all the players as they came off the bus and the best bit for me was seeing him on Inside Irons with Kurt Zouma and Taylor Tombides – that was fabulous!” Susan smiled.
“We then met the team chef, which was an insight on how they feed the players, then we had lunch at the Epicurean restaurant where Logan was presented with a shirt by Carlton Cole and Richard Garcia, and my husband and I got an overnight stay at the Crown resort!
“We met Łukasz Fabiański and Pablo Fornals and went to the Perth Glory game and saw loads of goals are also going to the Tottenham game, so it’s been amazing!”
“It was such an insight, and to see how big an operation a football club is and to see how positive everyone is,” Mike agreed.
The last word, though, goes to our Hammer for the Day, Logan.
“I’ve had the best day ever!” he confirmed. “The best bit was fist-bumping all the players and getting pictures with them. I’ve thanked my great-aunt a million times!”
