A Melbourne man – who got a last-minute ticket to the Super Bowl – has miraculously caught the winning field goal.
The score was tied at 35-all when Kansas City’s Harrison Butker kicked the winning field goal with only eight seconds left.
The ball soared through the goalposts and into the crowd where Eamonn Dixon was on his feet stunned but waiting with his hands open to catch the ball.
The Melbourne native has been living and working in San Francisco and only decided at the late minute to go to the major sporting event.
Incredible footage taken by a crowd member standing next to Mr Dixon shows the moment the ball lands squarely in his hands.
Cheers erupt from the crowd celebrating the game’s end as he high fives envious crowd members.
A stoic security guard even reached over the balustrade to pat him on the back.
When asked by 3AW radio about his frantic dash to attend America’s most-watched sporting event, Mr Dixon revealed he worked on one of the prized advertising slots shown during the game.
“I’m a creative director in advertising so I actually worked on the Doritos Super Bowl spot that actually played in the stadium during the game,” he said.
“I didn’t have a ticket to the game but one of my incredible Doritos clients called me up in the morning and said a spare ticket had become available.
“So I found out at 10am, got a flight at 12pm and then I got to the game just as the national anthem was being sung.”
Mr Dixon said he had been deciding what to cook his kids for dinner that night when he got the fateful call to go to the game.
“I was just happy to be there, it’s always been a bucket-list item to go to the Super Bowl,” he said.
“I was just sitting there and then four quarters later the ball sort of just fell in my lap, which was pretty surreal.”
However, in the moments after he caught the winning ball he quickly realised he might not be so lucky.
The security guard who had patted him on the back said: “I think you should get out of here pretty quickly with that thing before some other people try to grab it.”
“I caught it and there was a bit of mayhem obviously because it was a pretty exciting game and everyone was asking for photos with me,” Mr Dixon said.
“Everyone was trying to get it off me, but I shoved it in my friend’s bag and we sort of got ushered to the exit.
“It was all a bit of a blur.
“Now I’m just sitting here in my hotel room holding it.”
