A Norwich City fan who was ridiculed online has a powerful message for trolls after a £50,000 crowdfunding campaign goes viral.
After an interview with local sports website was published online, 31-year-old Nathan West was bombarded with anti-social comments but has since raised £50,000 for charity after setting a goal of £500.
Nathan West, a 31-year-old Norwich City fan, said “the trolls won’t get away with this” after his charity fundraiser went viral overnight.
West was targeted following an interview he gave with The Pink ‘Un, a local sports website, in the run-up to Sunday’s Canaries’ Championship win over Millwall.
“The football community has spoken up for me and helped me to silence the trolls in the most amazing way,” he said.
Mr West, who goes by Westy in the community, will be running in the Tonbridge half-marathon in October and when the video was posted online, he had not yet reached his £500 goal on his JustGiving.
However, three days later, the Norfolk resident has raised £50,000 and the video has been watched by over 26 million people.
He has also received England tickets and a signed shirt signed by Norwich City star and Westy’sNathan West, as well as fellow Norwich footballers Angus Gunn (left) and Shane Duffy (right).
But it’s the support from fans all over the world that has really touched Mr West’s heart.
He told Mirror Football: “The initial response was incredible, but it’s all settled down now!
The fundraising is fantastic news.
I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know what to expect. I woke up the next morning and looked at all the incredible messages from rival football supporters. The football world is united.
‘Westy’ said that one of the messages he received was from a fan from Ipswich who said ‘there’s not many times I’ll donate to a Norwich fan.’
‘I try to ignore online abuse,’ he said, ‘but my younger brother Troy made me aware of the abuse’. He added that he was delighted that he had educated the haters and ‘some of them even apologised and donated’.
“That’s the best part,” he said. ‘I didn’t expect this to happen. It’s great, but I wasn’t expecting it to go viral. I’ve had fans from all over the world, including America, Italy, Thailand and even Australia. The video has had 26million views!
Asked what his message would be to his trolls, the majority of whom have now deleted their messages, he replied: “I’d say you’re never going to win. Thanks to everyone who has supported. I appreciate all the donations. It’s been amazing. It’s wonderful. Football is the winner.”
After Chris Reeve shared a message online asking the BBC Radio Norfolk fanzine show’s co-host, ‘Westy’, to make a charitable donation, donations began to pile in.
Westy said: “Chris Reeve sent me a message saying he owed me a crate of beer. I didn’t want it, but I asked him to donate. He said he wanted £500, so I gave him the total and he shared it. The next morning, my brother said ‘look it’s gone crazy’ and it was all over social media.”
The fan has been invited to appear on the show, which will be hosted by well-known Norwich fan and Sky Sports’ new Soccer Saturday presenter Simon Thomas.
Speaking about the possibility of meeting the fan, Mr Reeve said: “He’ll be there, it’ll be great to meet him.”
“I didn’t expect this gesture to go viral, but the response has been absolutely incredible. What’s really amazing is that not only have football fans from all over the world joined in, but Ipswich Town supporters as well! That speaks for itself!” said Mr Reeve.
Speaking of social media, Mr Reeve added: “I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting this to go viral at all.
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It’s one of those things that doesn’t happen very often, but I think it’s a testament to how powerful social media can be. It’s educated people too. There was one particular comment – I won’t name them – but it was basically saying ‘I’m sorry I posted something nasty, I hope this donation compensates for it and I’ve taken my comment down’.
This raises the question of whether people are now more prepared to stand up against online abuse than to allow it to happen in the first place. People want to fix things. That’s how the football family wants to respond to the trolls and abuse he received.
But this hasn’t just fought against the trolls. It’s educated some of the football fans who said nasty things. This is something that Westy can be incredible proud of achieving. A normal bloke from Norfolk has literally raised £45k and he’s educated people which is an added bonus.”
