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Jermain Defoe condemns 'inhuman' fan who mocked Bradley Lowery
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Jermain Defoe condemns 'inhuman' fan who mocked Bradley Lowery

Originally posted on FanNation Sunderland Nation
By Michael Graham  |  Last updated 2/15/24

Former Sunderland striker Jermain Defoe says the Sheffield Wednesday fan who mocked the late Bradley Lowery earlier this season ‘had no conscience.’

Dale Houghton was photographed laughing as he held up a picture of the then six-year-old Lowery at Sunderland fans at Hillsborough in September.

He dismissed the behaviour as ‘enjoyable banter’ to police but a Sheffield Magistrates’ Court sentence him to 200 hours community service, a 12-week suspended prison sentence and a five-year ban from attending football.

Defoe was immensely close to Bradley, who sadly died of a rare form of cancer in 2017, and he has opened up on the matter in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail.

“You just think, ‘What kind of world are we living in to do that?’,” he said of the incident at Hillsborough.

“I think you need to have a conscience. That feeling you get when you see someone else upset. To do something like that, where it is calculated, it is hard for me to understand.

“You know you are not going to get away with it. Surely, they have got family members with kids so can understand what Gemma and Carl (Bradley’s parents) had to go through.

“For me, it was hard to see that. I couldn’t actually believe it. I thought, ‘Am I actually seeing things? What are these people actually thinking?’

“Surely the human side of you would be like, ‘I can’t do that.’”

Defoe had a special relationship with Bradley, and it all started when Sunderland played Chelsea in December 2018 at the Stadium of Light.

The youngster was the mascot that day and Defoe was his favourite player. It all stemmed from there.

“I remember sitting in the changing rooms before the game and hearing this little kid make a lot of noise,” Defoe said.

“He ran into the changing rooms and just jumped on my lap and started speaking, full of energy. I could tell he was so excited to see me.

“I was like, ‘Woah, this is different to anything I have experience before’. He looked at me and was so genuine.

“After that, I remember being down the tunnel and speaking to his mum and dad and I tried to understand what was going on with the cancer.

“I went to hospital and saw Brads and then after that I obviously wanted to spend more time with him.

“That relationship was really special. He gave me such a good feeling.

“Maybe it was because of all the stuff I’d been through before that - with people trying to take advantage and that pain - then all of a sudden I met someone and it was so genuine.”

Sunderland’s relegation to the Championship forced Defoe to leave the club shortly before Bradley passed away, but hearing the news still hit him hard.

“When Brads passed away, it was really tough,” he said. “I had just signed for Bournemouth and was on the plane to Spain. At that stage it was close.

“I landed and I got a phone call from someone. When I got the call, my head was all over the place.

“I’d just signed for a new club and you want to make a good impression, but my head was just in a different place.”

READ MORE SUNDERLAND NEWS

This article first appeared on FanNation Sunderland Nation and was syndicated with permission.

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