‘I thought I’d grown up’: Sporting Khalsa boss Ian Rowe on his viral worm celebration that ‘embarrassed’ his daughter
Ian Rowe thought he’d “grown up” - but the Sporting Khalsa boss’ wild worm celebration has taken the internet by storm and left his daughter cringing.
Few expected the biggest talking point of Sporting Khala’s impressive victory over Northern One West giants Bury last weekend to involve a throwback dance move from the 1980s.
But for Khalsa boss Rowe, the emotions got the better of him as he dropped to the turf and unleashed ‘the worm’ - a celebration that has since gone viral and, much to his daughter’s horror, even appeared on her TikTok feed.
“I think it was the emotions, it is something that I used to do all the time, years ago,” he laughed.
“I thought I had grown up, so the Mrs said ‘haven’t you grown out of that?’
“I think they thought it would be an easy day at the office, and we thwarted that, and when the second goal went in, with the timing, I knew it was game over, so I brought out the old traditional celebration.
“I put a post out as a bit light hearted, but it has gone crazy. It’s funny, my kids are taking the mick out of me.
“My daughter is on TikTok and it keeps flashing up on there. I think she is a little bit embarrassed that it is her dad.
“It’s been a while since the worm has come out. It was the emotion of football, a bit of relief at the end, so I thought, yes, why not. It was definitely spontaneous.”
18th-placed Khalsa travel to league leaders Lower Breck tomorrow looking to bounce back from a heavy 4-1 defeat to Runcorn Linnets in midweek.
And who knows - we might just see Rowe bringing out his now-famous celebration again. However, he admits a growing injury list is putting a dampener on things.
“One of the lads ruptured his achilles on Tuesday night, it adds to the injury list,” he added.
“We are decimated by injuries. Since the start of the season we have just been Saturday-Tuesday week in week out.
“It’s going to be tough against Lower Breck. We have about eight lads injured at the moment, but we have just got to try and get through it.”
Elsewhere, league rivals Darlaston Town who are one-from-bottom welcome Atherton Collieries looking for their first league win since August 19. The Citizens are winless in their past 10 league matches and have scored the least in the division with 10 goals so far.
Meanwhile, 11th-placed Stafford Rangers host Runcorn Linnets looking to extend their unbeaten run to three league games. The Rangers have the fourth-worst form in the league in the past six games, with just one win.
In the Northern One Midlands seventh-placed Lichfield City visit Rugby Borough looking to bounce back from a 4-1 defeat to Corby Town midweek.
