Source: Daily_Mail
My unforgettable day as an Everton mascot at Wembley on FA Cup final day
Alice Hayes, aged 12, had the experience of a lifetime on Saturday thanks to sponsors E.On as a mascot for the Everton team at the FA Cup final. She tells us how her day went. We got to Wembley Stadium, a bit late because of traffic, on the Friday to have a practice of what we were going to do the next day.
We had to do a run-through of it. We walked on to the pitch and it was amazing. The stadium was so big and all of the other mascots were amazed too. We just stood there and stared.
The next day we had to be at the mascot meeting place at 12:00 so me and my dad went for a walk around the stadium first. There was so many Everton supporters, all singing and laughing and just having a great time.
At 12 we went back to the mascot meeting place and met the people from the day before. They gave out the tickets to our parents and gave passes to us, and then we said goodbye to our parents and started to walk to the changing rooms.
We had an hour to talk and watch TV and have our lunch, and then we changed into our football kits. We all got goodybags as well, containing a programme, a camera, a watch, a badge, a pen and a bag. We had another hour of reading the programme, taking pictures and trying to work our watches.
After lunch we all went outside on to the pitch to have our picture taken. It was amazing as now there were so many people in the stadium, all cheering and laughing and singing, and there were cameras and TV reporters everywhere.
It was strange to see the stadium with loads of people when I saw it the day before and it was empty.
When it was time to go out on the pitch with the players, me and my friend Kathryn, who I met the day before, couldn't stop laughing because our other friend James walked straight into someone who was having an interview.
He wasn't looking where he was going and bumped straight into the reporter who was talking on the television!
We lined up in height order, so I was at the back, and we could hear everyone shouting and cheering.
When the players came into the tunnel from the changing rooms, all of the mascots were so excited and suddenly started talking, saying who's got who?
I had to hold hands with Steven Pienaar. He smiled and patted me on the shoulder but he couldn't speak because he was shaking so much! We could see that all the Everton players were so nervous.
When we walked on to the pitch it was so loud and there were cameras everywhere, and Steven bent down to touch the grass when he went over the line, but then when we stood in line for the presentation I was too tall to stand in front of Steven, so he swapped places with Marouane Fellaini. He was so tall and you could see his bushy afro hair above my head!
It was so funny because so many Everton fans had curly wigs, and me and my dad joked that it would be funny if his mascot had one too - but we were too scared to try it!
After the presentation and the songs we had to get off the pitch quickly and into the changing rooms, and everyone started talking about how much fun it was. It was funny that we were like really good friends even though we only met the day before.
They gave us our tickets and we went and sat with our parents and watched the game - except we missed the Everton goal which was so quick it went in before we got to our seats!
I had such a great time. I will never forget being a mascot. It was just a shame that Everton lost!
