Ella Markham received abuse for a video of her dancing at last weekend’s defeat to West Ham
Thursday 2 May 2019 22:17, UK
A girl with Down's syndrome has received an invitation from Harry Kane to be a Tottenham mascot after a video of her dancing was targeted by online trolls.
Ella Markham, 16, was videoed by her father dancing during Spurs' 1-0 home loss to West Ham on Saturday.
He posted the video online which was targeted by trolls who were making fun of his daughter.
"It was absolutely horrible," Mr Markham said. "Say what you like about me, but not her. It was quite sickening."
Mr Markham ended up posting a picture of himself and his daughter on Twitter writing: "This is Ella. I'm not asking you to say how beautiful she is or for you to like the post.
"All I really want after tonight is to treat her as a normal person who would smile at you and doesn't deserve to have fun poked at her."
Messages of support soon poured in and also caught the eye of two former Tottenham players, Graham Roberts and Micky Hazard, who brought the incident to the attention of the club.
And it has now led to a personal invitation from Kane for the last home game of the season against Everton.
Taking to social media, Kane said: "I saw the video of you dancing at the Spurs game and I want to thank you for your amazing support. I loved it!"
Mr Markham described receiving the video as "astonishing" and said his daughter's reaction to the clip was a highlight of a rollercoaster week.
He said: "It was like a film with a sharp intake of breath, hand over her mouth, 'oh wow'. It was like a happy ending from a film."
