Rugby

Match Ball Delivery: Meet Rosie from England

Rosie loves Rugby. The 11-year-old’s love of sport stems from many weekends with her dad at the rugby club. Now she is about to have the experience of a lifetime: delivering the official match ball at the Rugby World Cup 2015 Final in London.

DHL has searched the globe to bring 48 children from 42 countries to the UK for one unforgettable experience – to deliver the match ball to a Rugby World Cup 2015 game. This is the story of Rosie from England.

Watch Rosie tell her story on YouTube

Butterflies
“I think I’m going to have butterflies in my tummy,” says Rosie, when asked how she thinks she’ll feel when she walked out onto the field in front of 80,000 cheering fans. But this little 11-year-old also knows she’s going to have a lot of fun.

“Although I’m going to be really nervous, I’m going to be having the time of my life,” she adds.

Rosie has been selected to be DHL’s Match Ball Delivery Ambassador for the Final match of Rugby World Cup 2015 this Saturday at London’s Twickenham Stadium. She was randomly selected in a nationwide competition promoted by The Telegraph newspaper in print and online.

Her dad first broke the news. 

“Well my dad told me on the way back on the train from London,” she says. “I couldn’t believe it, I was so excited and so nervous.”

And she couldn’t wait to tell her P.E. teacher at school.

“The first day back at school she came running in and said she was going to be presenting the match ball to the referee at the Rugby World Cup Final,” says Luke Tucker. “I couldn’t believe it to start with, but obviously I’m very very happy for her.”

“I think I’m going to have butterflies in my tummy.”

True athlete
Rosie not only loves Rugby, she loves everything that has to do with sport. Her parents say her love of Rugby and sport stems from growing up spending weekends with her dad at the rugby club. 

“She turns her hand to most sports,” says Rosie’s mom, Nicole. “If she has a choice of doing something, it won’t be sitting indoors, it will be being out and running around or playing some sort of sport.”

At school, P.E. is definitely one of her favorite classes, and it shows.

“Rosie is a fantastic girl in class,” says her teacher. “She’s hard working, she’s thoughtful and she contributes amazingly to all discussions in our class.”

So why does she enjoy Rugby so much?

“Running around free on the pitch and scoring tries,” she says, adding with a bashful smile: “I really like scoring tries because everyone cheers my name.”

“I really like scoring tries because everyone cheers my name.”

Rosie’s Match Ball Delivery Moment
On October 31, Rosie will run out the match ball right before reigning champions New Zealand face Australia in a classic matchup between two of the world’s greatest Rugby teams of all time. Both sides enter the Final with two World Cups, with Australia winning in 1991 and 1999 and New Zealand winning in 1987 and 2011.

Rosie will share the moment with her father, Dave, the man who introduced her to the game. Her mother says it’s a moment little Rosie won’t ever forget.

“The thought that Dave will have this opportunity to go to the Rugby World Cup Final with Rosie, delivering the match ball, is just a memory of a lifetime. 

“It’s just a memory of a lifetime.”

 

Stay tuned after the Tournament when we’ll share Rosie’s Match Ball Delivery experience. Until then, enjoy the heartwarming videos of some of our other winners. Or, if you prefer a good read, find their stories right here on DHL InMotion.

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