Match of the day at Molineux
Wolves-mad Alex Parkes kicked off the Premier League season in style – by proposing on the Molineux pitch in front of almost 30,000 football fans.
The 22-year-old Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers craftsman planned the move with military precision days before leaving for a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan.
And the soldier realised his lifetime goal when stunned sweetheart Ruth Onions, also 22, said "yes" after he went down on bended knee in the centre circle at half-time during Wolves' home defeat to West Ham, sparking cheers and applause from the crowd.
She had been tricked into believing Alex, of Sambrook Road, Fallings Park was going onto the Wolves pitch with her to accept a cheque from the club on behalf of his REME comrades.
Molineux pitch-side presenter Mike Zeller was in on the plan, along with announcer Jason Forrest, and passed the engagement ring to vehicle mechanic Alex at the last moment.
Ruth, from Hillcrest Avenue, Bushbury, Wolverhampton, said later: "I had been completely fooled until I saw that.
"Then I started to shake with fear because of the tens of thousands of people watching us but I did not have to think twice before saying 'yes'.
"It was a fantastic thing for Alex to do. I knew he was the one for me and this proved it."
The couple were in the same year at Heath Park School High School, in Prestwood Road, Wolverhampton, and dated for a few weeks when they were aged 13.
They went their separate ways after leaving school, but made contact again through the Facebook internet site in March last year.
They corresponded for five months while Alex was stationed in Canada and Germany, but he called to see her when home on leave on August 11 last year.
"It was love at first sight," he revealed. Ruth added: "It was the same for me."
Alex, a Wolves season ticket holder from the age of two until he joined the Army, explained: "I am going to Helmand province, in Afghanistan, in two weeks' time and wanted to show everybody how much I loved Ruth before I left.
"The first game of the season at Molineux was the ideal place to do it."
Ruth added: "I am obviously nervous about him being in Afghanistan, but hopefully the time will pass quickly and then we can be together again forever."
