This woman travelling over 40 hours to watch just 90 minutes of football.
Natalie Richards, who left Huddersfield for Australia 12 years ago, is flying from Perth for Huddersfield Town’s play-off final against Reading at Wembley.
By the time the 30-year-old, who has been a Town fan since she was a child, lands back in Perth, she will have spent a total of 40 hours on flights and lay-overs.
But that’s not all – she’s even flying into Manchester just so that she can get a bus down to Wembley Stadium with other Town fans, adding another four hours to her journey!
Natalie said: “When I phoned my mum she thought I was joking.
“Then she said, ‘Oh, it’s like a dream!’ I said, ‘I know, Town might get into the Premier League!’ She said, ‘No, you’re coming home!’”
Monday’s match will see Town compete for promotion to the Premier League.
Natalie, a web producer and journalist for the West Australian who co-hosts an online show called Two Pommie Sheilas, is going to the match with her dad, her brother, her cousin and two of their partners.
Writing for the newspaper, she said: “A long-haul flight for a couple of hours in a stadium is a small price to pay for a hometown club that feels so much closer.”
She will spend just 56 hours in England before flying out from Heathrow and starting back at work four hours after she lands back on Australian soil.
She said she bought her tickets when they were released last week and booked her flights shortly afterwards.
She said: “I rang my dad to ask if he was going to Wembley and he said they were all just going to watch the match in the pub. I said I’m going even if you aren’t.
“So they booked their tickets as well and my brother arranged a coach.
“Being from the other side of the world, I was more keen to go to Wembley than they were.”
Just last month, Natalie and her husband flew from Perth to watch the World Cup qualifier in Syndey just to see Town midfielder Aaron Mooy play for the Socceroos – but he was suspended shortly before the game.
Hopefully Mooy will have more luck on May 29 and Natalie will be able to watch her team on TV back in Perth when the next season of the Premier League starts in August.
