Football fan mocked for his appearance silences trolls by running half marathon

A football fan who was trolled online for his appearance has defied his haters in the best possible way by raising more than £60,000 running a half marathon.

Norwich City fan Nathan West, 31, from Earsham, Norfolk, was mocked by trolls when he was interviewed by PinkUn ahead of the Canaries’ clash with Millwall in August.

He was already planning to run the Tonbridge Half Marathon in Kent for Macmillan Cancer Support with the aim of raising £500.

But the fundraiser went viral after he was met with a wave of online abuse and donations flooded in from around the world.

Nathan’s brother Troy first made him aware of the mocking comments that were left under the video on Twitter.

Nathan told Metro: ‘It was a bit upsetting at first as I read some of the posts the trolls wrote about my appearance.

‘But then I realised there is nothing wrong my appearance and it was only few posts from the trolls.’

The Norfolk lad wanted to raise money for the charity after losing his grandparents to cancer.

When the whole football community started rallying behind him and calling out the online trolls Nathan felt a swell of pride.

‘I was overwhelmed with joy it started with my fellow Norwich City FC fans putting messages of support and backing me,’ he said.

‘Then it was the whole footballing community coming together fans from different clubs and many football fans from abroad with messages of support.

‘I felt amazed by all this love and support for me.’

The donations really started pouring in after BBC Radio Norfolk’s fanzine show The Scrimmage co-host Chris Reeve told Nathan he owes him some beers after Nathan correctly predicted winger Jonathan Rowe would score and Norwich would win 3-1 against Millwall.

Jonathan Rowe himself even sent a message of support that said: ‘Big up yourself for doing this interview Westy!’

Nathan asked Chris Reeve to make a charity donation rather than buy beers for him for his correct prediction.

Nathan said: ‘He donated the betting winnings put it up to £500 my target and then shared my page on Twitter and said what a legend I was for turning down the beers and it started going crazy from there.’

The footy fan finished the half marathon in one hour, 46 minutes and 14 seconds, smashing his target of completing it in two hours.

Nathan added: ‘I feel very proud  to have raised all this money for a charity close to my heart Macmillan Cancer Support.

‘This money will allow Macmillan Cancer Support to keep helping people with cancer who need it.