With a penalty goal in a test match, the English first division football team FC Everton thanked their fan Paul Stratton for his commitment to aid deliveries to Ukraine.
In the “game for peace” against the Ukrainian record champions Dynamo Kyiv, Stratton was substituted on by coach Frank Lampard on Friday evening and was allowed to convert a penalty kick – the goalkeeper obviously not reacting.
The 44-year-old Liverpool City Councilman, wearing a number 38 shirt, then cheered in front of the crowd, kissed the Everton crest and was feted by his celebrity team-mates. The Liverpool team was leading 3-0 in the “Game for Peace” at the time. The game ended with this score.
Shortly after the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, Stratton and his brother drove to the Polish border town of Przemysl and spent days there helping Ukrainian refugees, “accompanied by a Polish dictionary and a network of former colleagues from the police and army”. “I couldn’t just sit at home and do nothing,” he said of his motivation.
