For the uninitiated, Super 6 is a free-to-play game, promoted by Sky Sports, which involves predicting the correct score in each of six football matches, usually on a Saturday afternoon, chosen. Obviously, the odds against doing so are phenomenal, but the jackpot prize for a sole winner – typically £250,000, but occasionally £500,000 or even £1,000,000 – has been won on numerous occasions down the years.
In fact, the first sole winner of the £250,000 prize was Fred Crossman, a 68-year-old pensioner from Ripon, North Yorkshire, who did so on Saturday, October 1, 2016. Crossman correctly predicted away wins, to nil, for Chelsea, Huddersfield and Newcastle and score draws between Watford and Bournemouth, West Ham and Middlesbrough and Sunderland and West Bromwich. His success was never a foregone conclusion, though, with Patrick van Aanholt coming off the bench at the Stadium of Light to score a late equaliser for Sunderland, with just seven minutes of normal time remaining.
Not that Crossman was bothered, in any case. Engrossed in the drama of the Ryder Cup from Hazeltine National Golf Club, he missed Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports and remained blissfully unaware of his good fortune until his son showed him a video clip of presenter Jeff Stelling announcing that the winner was a 68-year-old from North Yorskhire. Afterwards, he said, ‘I’m still shaking. It’s hard to take in at the moment. I thought it was a scam when I got the email asking for my documents.’, adding, ‘It feels unreal.’