Nina Farooqi: a living legend
A woman from Yorkshire paid a huge price to go and watch England win against Denmark in the semi-final, as she was ultimately caught pulling a sickie live on telly. Safe to say, her boss was displeased, to say the least.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CQs1IwJMatT/
Nina Farooqi, 37, called in sick to her job as a Digital Content Co-ordinator for a Leeds decking and cladding firm called Composite Prime. Farooqi from Ilkley was given a last-minute ticket from her friend, who won them in a raffle.
She said she thought she was unlikely to be given the time off, given that the business was short-staffed. Farooqi did what many of us would do in her situation; she called in sick!
In an unlikely turn of events, and despite believing she was unlikely to be spotted in a crowd of 60,000 fans, Farooqi’s face was broadcasted to the millions of people watching at home. Though the shot was of her celebrating Englands equalising goal, Farooqi also appeared on Stacey Dooley’s Instagram story. However, as expected, her boss was not too pleased.
When she checked her phone at halftime, her heart must have sunk. “We were all over the news, my face was on every television screen across the world.” Friends from across the world said they saw her, but her work had still not contacted her, so perhaps this was a good sign?
However, During her 6 am train back home, her boss phoned and told her not to come in. She spoke to the Daily Telegraph about the experience, saying:
“They said they’d seen I’d been at the game, and I was honest about why I did it. But I didn’t get any sympathy at all and they said that’s it. That’s their call and the consequence of what I did.
“There is a bit of regret, no one wants to get fired, but then also I would have hated the regret of missing out. I’d do it all over again.
“This hasn’t come around since 1996, I vividly remember crying on my mum’s sofa when Gareth Southgate missed his penalty, and the football fan in me just couldn’t do it. Football is my life.”
An England fan has said she'd "do it all over again" after being fired when she was caught on live television pulling a sickie to go to the Euros 2020 semi-finalhttps://t.co/Lq29X1qgRY
— LBC (@LBC) July 9, 2021
Farooqi’s job allowed her to pursue her talent with freelance sports photography at the men’s club game and across the Women’s Super League. She said that since she was fired, friends in the women’s football community have rallied around her, offering her numerous freelancing projects.
Though losing her job was undoubtedly hard, Farooqi is now free to explore her true passion. Perhaps there is a silver lining after all, and undoubtedly her boss feels stupid now. After all, she was there to witness the penultimate step before it came home.
