What REALLY Happened in Cheltenham

What REALLY happened in that footballers' VIP box at Cheltenham Festival races
Three years on, an ex-City player explains why his mates were urinating

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It was the moment apparent footballers’ excess spilled over from the back pages to the front - when Bristol City stars were pictured in what were described as ‘debauched’ scenes at Cheltenham races.

It involved reality TV stars and models flashing their breasts and footballers urinating into cups on the balcony of a VIP box at the Cheltenham Festival, in March 2016.

At the time, amid something approaching a short-lived national outrage, one Bristol City player, now former defender Luke Ayling, apologised publicly.

But the circumstances of what happened, how the players ended up in the box and why they were urinating into glasses in full view of the festival has never been told - until now.
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In a footballers’ podcast called Undr The Cosh, presented by former players Jon Parkin and Chris Brown, the former Bristol City star who knew all about what happened that day, has finally lifted the lid on the shenanigans.

Aaron Wilbraham was Bristol City’s main striker at the time, and he joined the podcast as a guest for a wide-ranging interview which included his time at Ashton Gate, and the infamous afternoon at the Cheltenham Festival.

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He said the box had been hired by his agent for him, but soon turned to ‘carnage’ after a group of what he described as ‘Love Island girls’ were invited in.

“We went there and my agent had a box,” he said. “I remember all the Love Island girls were coming in and one of them had told the paparazzi what box we were all in and she flashed her t**s.

“None of the lads knew she was going and a few of the lads got photographed as they were looking,” he added.

The women in question who had been photographed exposing themselves to the usually genteel Cheltenham Festival crowd were reality TV star Jessica Hayes and glamour model Katie Salmon.

Wilbraham, who became a cult-hero at Ashton Gate in his three seasons at Bristol City, said the presence of these girls suddenly meant his VIP box was packed.

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“It was online straight away. It was carnage in this box, my agent had probably invited too many people.

“It was a free bar and before you knew it, this box was rammed,” he added.

The paparazzi there to photograph those models then caught something else - some of the footballers urinating into glasses and pouring them out onto a lawn below.

Wilbraham explained why this had happened - and he claimed it was for practical reasons, rather than any debauchery.

“They (the stewards) needed people to get out for health and safety but no one wanted to leave, so every time someone went to the toilet they weren't letting you back in.

“The lads were dying for a p*** so they were pi****g in pint glasses on the balcony. They weren't throwing them they were just laying them down.

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“They didn't want to go because they wouldn't get back in the box for the free bar.

“The papers it was made out that they were p***ing and throwing it but that wasn't it,” he added.

Indeed, that version of events was backed up at the time by Gloucestershire police. While some of the tabloids expressed outrage that the players were pouring urine onto punters below, a police spokesperson explained the box was lower down, and the urine merely ended up on an empty lawn.

The tabloid press focussed on two players photographed urinating - Samir Carruthers, then of MK Dons and now of Cambridge United, and James Collins, who played for Northampton Town at the time and is now at Luton Town.

Photographed between them, apparently ‘egging them on’, was Bristol City star Luke Ayling, although also pictured in the box at the time was City players Marlon Pack and Aden Flint.

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All three players later issued apologies, and the clubs involved issued statements too.

Wilbraham said Lee Johnson was not happy at the fallout from allowing his players to go to Cheltenham for the day.

“All this got out to Lee Johnson and he was fuming,” he said. “He pulled me and Lee Tomlin in and he was like: 'If you're not doing well after 20 minutes on Saturday, you're both coming off.'

“He said: 'You've been out Saturday, Sunday, Monday , Tuesday'. We had Bolton on the Saturday. After 20 minutes we were 2-0 up. Me and Tomlin had both scored and we ended up winning 6-0.

“My agent text Johnson and said: 'I've got another box at Chepstow on Wednesday,” he joked.
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport...ol-city-cheltenham-festival-urinating-3560021