Whittington's football carnival

 

It’s not everyday that Arsenal call you up offering free tickets to see an international friendly. So when Arsenal gave away free tickets to Brazil versus Ireland on Tuesday 2 March the response from Whittington staff was phenomenal, with 82 staff taking two tickets each at short notice.

One of the staff lucky enough to see the match – Brazil won two-nil, by the way – was Brazillian born Nelson Schipper who works in laundry. Nelson was born in the town of Porte Alegre and has worked at the hospital for eight years. Before that he was a musician, playing and teaching keyboards across jazz, blues and classical.

Nelson has seen Brazil play once before, again at the Emirates stadium with Brazil beating Sweden, and this game was just as good; “I felt the game went really well although the first half wasn’t so great” Nelson explains. “Brazil fielded a weaker team and played defensive football for the first ninety minutes, but the second half they improved a lot and played the kind of football you want to see.”

The Whittington would like to thank Arsenal for the kind offer of the tickets.