Family Of Crying German Girl Found - They're Donating The $50,000 Raised

Jul 07, 2021

On June 29 this year, English soccer fans were happy to celebrate their team's historic win against Germany during the Euro 2020 match. Not only did their team win and gain entry into the finals, giving England a chance at winning their first Euro Cup victory - or any major cup victory, actually - since 1966. They also won against Germany, England's soccer rival that has continually knocked England's team out of the running over the years.

Fans were understandably overjoyed during and after the match and took to the streets in celebration. However, some fans showed a rather ugly side when they took to Twitter to belittle and insult a little girl that had been shown crying in the stadium after her team lost.

It's not unusual for fans, adults and kids alike, to cry when their team loses a major game. It's also not unusual for the fans of the opposite side to be happy and sometimes slightly gleeful. But Joel Hughes or Caerleon, Newport, a Welsh soccer fan cheering for the English team, saw a side of his fellow fans following the match that completely astounded and horrified him.

English soccer fans took to Twitter, sharing the picture of the crying girl pressing herself against her father's chest and calling the girl names. The insults used included terms like "nazi", "slag" and even worse insults and threats made to an underaged child that had only wanted to see her team play. Hughes felt compelled to take to Twitter himself and asked English fans to show their support for the little girl by starting a Just Giving crowdfunding entry. 

Hughes opened the Just Giving campaign several hours after the match and the Twitter comments made the rounds. On the campaign's website, he explains his motivation:

"However, an unsavouraby element of social media piled in on this photo of an upset little girl (as seen in this tweet by Stan Collymore).

Pretty horrible - to put it mildly.

Yes, there are more people affected by this than just this little girl but hey, this is just meant to be a token of goodwill. Yes there are other potential good causes - but I've picked this.

I'd like to think that the parents of the little girl will spend this on a nice treat for her so that she knows that not everyone from the UK is horrible and that we care."

Hughes received flak for the campaign himself, with many people saying there are more worthy causes than a girl being bullied on Twitter. But the Welshman didn't let himself be deterred and managed to raise about £36,000 (roughly $50,000) for the girl and her family. And even more amazingly, he also managed to track down the family in question and contacted them.

However, the unknown family and the little girl didn't actually want the money. As they told Hughes, who posted their statement to the campaign's website:

"In the interests of our daughter and our family we would like to remain private however we wish to thank everyone for your amazing support. Our daughter would like to request your generous donations go to UNICEF, knowing that your kindness will do good."

Following their wishes, Hughes has now donated all the money raised towards a good cause. This only proves that kindness towards our fellow humans will always result in better things than hate. 

What do you think about this story? Would or have you donated to this campaign? Tell us your thoughts and pass this story along!