Our house overlooks Headingley so we can watch Ashes for free – but that’s not the best
FOUR students living in house overlooking Headingley Stadium say they can watch The Ashes for free – but that’s not the best.
The Leeds Beckett boys got a bird’s-eye view of the third Test at the cricket ground and avoided spending £150 a day on tickets.
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The pals climbed onto the hot slate roof of the shared student residence overlooking the Yorkshire Cricket Club home, ice cold beers and a radio to listen to match commentary.
They went viral on Twitter, particularly with fans Down Under after watching Day Two with an Australian TV reporter.
Rory Kinrade, 20, a sophomore in physical education, told the Sun: “Have a look – we have the best seats in the house… free.”
“It has to be the best student accommodation in the country. It’s like having a friendly in our backyard.”
“There’s a phrase in Yorkshire: ‘owt for nowt’ and that’s the ultimate.
“We can see 80 percent of the field and have a clear view of whoever is batting.”
“The best thing is, we don’t have any queues at the bar – nor in front of the toilet!”
Footage from Sky Sports coverage yesterday showed Elliot Longworth, 21, who was accused of dozing off on the roof with his arms outstretched.
Pictures of him seemingly dozing in the sun went viral on social media.
But the second year of sports business studies was strictly against taking a nap.
He said: “I was stitched up. I closed my eyes for a second and thought nothing of it. Then my phone started exploding.”
“There was no way I could have slept yesterday, it was such a brilliant game.”
“I’m a big cricket fan and it’s just great to see it from the roof. We must be the happiest students in the country.”
Rory and Elliot and their friends Ben Mellor and Alfie Johnston, both 21, thought they would miss the action from their balcony – only to find that from the roof top of the stands you could watch England’s attempts, the series with Australia with 2-0 to recover high.
Rory, from Manchester, added: “We were actually going to try and get tickets but we’re students on a budget so it was never going to happen.”
“That’s when we realized that if we could go to the roof, we could see everything for free.
“We can see 80 percent of the field – only the very edge of the field boundary is blocked.”
“We’ve thought about putting up some signs on the roof to piss off Australians, but all we have is A4 paper.”
Elliot, whose part-time shifts at Nando will keep him from watching Saturday’s action, added: “I’m a huge cricket fan and to see Ben Stokes tear it up is amazing.”
“The atmosphere was great. When England take a wicket there is noise on the pitch.”
The antics of the squatting spectators have captured the imagination of audiences on social media.
“Look at these people watching the game from a rooftop instead of paying for a ticket. It’s not in the spirit of cricket,” someone tweeted.
“How much did that view cost? Nothing… Costs are on the house,” joked another.
A third added: “Three boys walking through a patch of roof.”
It comes after a couple who live next door to the Wimbledon tennis complex say they are sick and tired of the hellish noise generated by the annual competition.
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