Pewsey friends net chat with England boss (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Pewsey friends net chat with England boss

4:30pm Thursday 21st June 2012 in News

Pewsey councillor Jerry Kunkler and friends from the village who were on holiday in Krakow, Poland – where the England team has been staying during the European Cup – bumped into England manager Roy Hodgson.

Mr Kunkler, who runs the Moonrakers pub in Pewsey and is the village’s Wiltshire Council member, was in the Polish city with friends Ashley Amor, Dave Rutledge and Amit Patel when they came across Mr Hodgson as they walked past the English team’s hotel not far from where they were staying.

Mr Kunkler said they did not get to see any of the England matches other than on large screen TVs in FanFest marquees erected around the city for soccer fans.

He said fans from other nations were staying in the same city but they had not seen any confrontation or trouble.

“We have met fans from a lot of the other countries and the atmosphere has been fantastic, no problems at all.”

He said on Monday morning as the Pewsey group walked around Krakow they saw Mr Hodgson emerging from the England team hotel.

Mr Kunkler said: “I called out to Roy ‘We are from Wiltshire – Don Rogers’.”

The publican said that as Don Rogers was one of the best known Wiltshire soccer names and was a close friend, having been involved with Pewsey Vale FC in the past, he called out his name on the spur of the moment.

He said: “It worked, Roy came over and we had a nice chat, he said he knew Don Rogers and he posed for a photograph with us.”