Time wasting Chelsea fan wins Brighton Comedy Moment of 2021-22

Stamford Bridge, December 29th 2021. An evening which should be remembered for Brighton outplaying the European Champions and scoring their first ever league goal away against Chelsea will instead forever be remembered for the time wasting antics of one Blues fan resulting in one of the funniest things ever seen at an Albion game.

Needless to say, time wasting Chelsea fan was the overwhelming winner of WAB Comedy Moment of the Season 2021-22 with more than 50 percent of the vote.

The Blues were desperately trying to hold onto the 1-0 lead given to them by Romelu Lukaku in the first half as the game ticked towards its conclusion.

Thomas Tuchel’s side had not mustered a shot on target in nearly an hour since going ahead with the Seagulls totally dominant. The only thing missing from the Brighton performance was a deserved equaliser.

Home supporters clearly realised this and so in an attempt to help their side towards three points, they decided to start time wasting.

A loose ball found its way into the front row of seats. Rather than give it back to Brighton, one Chelsea fan instead tried to boot the ball towards the back of the main stand in an attempt to delay the restart.

We say tried, because all he succeeded in doing was leathering said ball straight into the face of his friend from point blank range. To complete the comedy sequence, this knocked said friends baseball cap off to reveal an utterly shiny bonce.

The victim grabbed his face in pain. The kicker instantly put his head in his hands, shocked and disbelieving at what had just happened.

Brighton got the ball back, not that anybody cared as 3,000 Seagulls supporters were completely cracking up over this incredible turn of events.

There was a danger that Chelsea fan kicking ball into his own friend’s face would enter into Brighton folklore, a story to be passed down through the generations without any proof it actually happened.

Like the time Nathan Jones got outpaced by a squirrel down the left flank at Withdean or when Danny Cullip screamed “PETHICK YOU FUCKING UGLY BASATRD” at Robbie Pethick after the centre back had committed the crime of putting a ball out for a throw.

And then North Stand Chat found a video of the incident. Rather than those who were at Stamford Bridge being the only ones able to replay the scene in their minds, the whole world could now marvel at the stupidity of the time wasting Chelsea fan trying to help the European Champions hold on to a 1-0 lead against little old Brighton.

Remember the tale of that Chelsea fan who booted the ball as he tried to waste time to prevent #BHAFC from continuing to tear Chelsea apart?

The one who smashed it into the face of his mate?

The one where no one could find a video?

Fixed. pic.twitter.com/gq6VLnQ0uF

— North Stand Chat (@NorthStandChat) January 24, 2022

To make matters even better, the time wasting attempts proved to be completely futile. Around 10 minutes after Chelsea fan boots ball into own friend’s face happened, WAB Player of the Season Marc Cucurella delivered a cross into the box and Danny Welbeck leapt like the proverbial salmon to equalise for Brighton.

A bruised face, a bruised ego and all for nothing as it finished Chelsea 1-1 Brighton. Blues fans, we salute you and your time wasting ways for making Brighton taking a point from the European Champions even more enjoyable.

Second place in Comedy Moment of the Season went to the Albion announcing the home attendance against Brentford as 30,141 when there were only 12,000 or so people actually at the Amex.

An 8pm kick off on Boxing Day at a stadium which relies so heavily on public transport was always likely to result in a low crowd, even without Brighton being in the midst of an 11 game, three month long run without victory.

With the best part of 19,000 very visible empty seats for anyone watching on television to marvel at, the club’s policy of announcing tickets sold rather than physical bodies through the turnstile was made to look particularly silly.

Not far behind the Boxing Day pretend attendance in the Comedy Moment of the Season vote was Joel Veltman rescuing a seagull from his chimney.

To paraphrase Mick from Gavin & Stacey: “It’s the last thing you expect to find when you go onto Instagram on a Sunday morning.”

Just 24 hours after pocketing Cristiano Ronaldo as Brighton beat Manchester United 4-0 at the Amex, Veltman turned into a Dutch version of Steve Irwin by filming himself removing a bird who had become stuck in the chimney of his Hove home.

Using nothing but his own intuition and a set of oven gloves, Veltman managed to grab said seagull and then release him back into the wild. It was quite the miniature documentary to help shift the significant Sunday hangover left by those post-United celebrations.

WeAreBrighton.com Comedy Moment of the Season 2021-22 – The Results

• Chelsea fan boots ball into his own friend’s face – 55.92%
• Brentford home attendance announced as 30,141 – 15.16%
• Joel Veltman rescues a seagull from his chimney – 14.37%
• Graham Potter tells Brighton fans to stop shouting SHOOT – 13.90
• Brighton 0-3 Burnley – 3.31%
• Adam Lallana’s eight minutes against Liverpool – 2.05%

Previous Winners: Missing two penalties v West Brom (2021), Ezequiel Schelotto v Wilfried Zaha (2020), Yves Bissouma laughs at Arsenal (2019), Anthony Knockaert faceplant (2018).