Poole Town fans placed £150 bet on Charlie Austin to score for England when he joined Swindon in 2009
A group of Poole Town supporters placed a £150 bet on Charlie Austin to score for England when he left the Wessex League club for Swindon in 2009.
Austin has since risen from the ninth tier of English football to Premier League stardom with QPR, where he's already scored 17 goals this season.
His incredible form was enough to earn a first international call-up from Roy Hodgson today, and Austin could make his Three Lions bow against Ireland next weekend.
Mark Bumford is one of 16 supporters who contributed to a £150 bet on Austin scoring for England at odds of 50/1 when he joined League One outfit Swindon in October 2009.
Bumford is the commercial director at Poole Town, and has retained the betting slip for nearly six years. He remembers asking England manager Hodgson to pick Austin two years ago.
"I met Roy at an England legends game in Reading two years and told him he should pick Charlie. I told him if you pick him for a game he will score two goals. Roy just smiled at me," he recalls.
Local Poole-based betting firm Jem Racing, who accepted the wager, said:
"We're in the Harry Kane camp! Obviously, we'd rather not lose £7,500 but if Charlie does score it would be good because he's a local lad. It might actually give us some good publicity."