It's traditional for the fans of a soccer club to vote every month on the most notable performances, players, and events of that month for their favorite team. It's meant to engage fans in celebrating their club, but also rewarding players for their accomplishments. However, sometimes beautiful, feel-good moments that otherwise would go forgotten are honored by the fans.
This time, Everton in the English Premier League provided us with that moment, by voting this as the team's goal of the month of January:
That's local Evertonian 9-year-old and rabid Everton fan George Shaw, who has cerebral palsy, scoring a goal during halftime of their game against Swansea City on Jan. 24 in his own custom Everton uniform on the pitch at Goodison Park.
Shaw was in attendance that day as the special guest of Spanish winger Gerard Deulofeu, after seeing a video of Shaw playing soccer in Deulofeu's No. 19 Everton jersey. Shaw beat out first-team Everton midfielders like Aaron Lennon, Kevin Mirallas and Ross Barkley for the award by running away with 86 percent of the votes.
To top it off, the video of him finding out from Everton's reps that he won is even more heart-warming. There are sniffles in the background when he's told that this puts him in the running for the club's Goal of the Year Award, and that he'll get to meet all the players and the manager:
VIDEO: Here's how delighted nine-year-old George Shaw reacted to winning our January Goal of the Month poll! #EFChttps://t.co/VAtiQPRZb3
— Everton (@Everton) February 10, 2016
Despite losing 2-1 that afternoon, Deulofeu went as far as to meet with Shaw and his family after the game, and presented Shaw with his cleats from the game, melting everyone's hearts once and for all:
Very disappointed not to get the win today. But today I met George & his family, a very strong, inspiring boy pic.twitter.com/WtQORgGegE
— Gerard Deulofeu (@gerardeulofeu) January 24, 2016