A 'kindness influencer' gave my family free World Cup tickets

ByEmmet McElhatton

BBC News NI

A County Down father has said he feels "inspired" to be kinder to others, after a man he had never met before gave him and his two sons tickets to a World Cup match.

Cormac Carville, along with his wife Catherine and sons, were on a family trip to Toronto when their luck came in.

The father-of-four had wanted to take his family to a match, but decided, at £2,000, the price of admission for the full family, was more than he could afford.

Then Cormac's 14-year-old son Joshua recognised a familiar face among the throngs flooding into the Toronto Stadium for the Portugal v Croatia game - and, suddenly with the help of kindness influencer Zachery Dereniowski, external the family's fortunes changed.

Carville, resigning himself to the idea getting a ticket was out of the question, had taken his family to do "the second-best thing" - "to go down town and soak up some of the atmosphere".

They watched as excited fans flooded the city and poured into the grounds: the red and green of Portugal and tablecloth checks of Croatia.

Then, somehow, through the sea of jerseys, Cormac's 14-year-old son spied somebody he recognised.

"Joshua spotted Zachery [Dereniowski] in the street.

"Kindness is cool," says the Instagram bio of 32-year-old Dereniowski, whose videos often involve him doing random acts of kindness for strangers.

He has amassed more than 30 million online followers.

'This is too good to be true'

"Being a 14-year-old boy and loving Tiktok, he wanted to get a photograph with him," explained Carville.

But it was more than a just picture the unsuspecting teenager was about receive., external

"He said, 'Do you want to come to the World Cup?'"

The oldest Carville was more than a little shocked.

In Cormac's own words: "I nearly fainted."

Then a cynicism came over him: "Being from where we're from, you're sort of sceptical all the time, so I didn't really believe it."

Laughing, he said, "This is too good to be true."

But the social media star reassured the Carvilles that his offer was genuine.

Putting their trust in the Canadian the Carvilles, along with a Portuguese family who had also become the benefactors of this random act of kindness, walked to the stadium.

"It was only when I got through the turnstiles and got the ticket on my phone that I actually realised it was real," added Carville.

Amid all the good fortune, there was one small issue - six family members and only three tickets.

It was decided Cormac and his two oldest sons (14 and six) would take the tickets and his wife Catherine and two younger boys (four and two) would have to follow the action on the television back at the house.

'The beer started flying'

Inside the grounds, Carville said "the atmosphere was incredible".

"We were sitting in the Portuguese side of the stadium, and it was unbelievable.

"Seeing Luca Modric playing for Croatia and Ronaldo for Portugal, in the flesh like, is an unreal experience."

The match turned out to be a thriller - a 2-1 victory for the Portuguese that was decided only forth minute of injury time.

It game also saw Ronaldo put away a penalty.

"Ronaldo is such an icon. Whenever he scored the penalty, all the beer started flying and we were in the middle of it all."

When they left the stadium, a Portuguese party had erupted in the streets.

'Nice to see a bit of positivity'

Carville said many of Zackery's videos are "very inspirational".

"In the world that we're living in, there's always bad news everywhere, it's nice to see a bit of positivity. I said that to him after."

Carville said social media can be a "cesspit" and it was great to see fans and different cultures come together and celebrate.

The most special moment of the day came when Carville's son, after getting to see his favourite player, Cristiano Ronaldo, play live, turned to his father and said: "Dad, this is the best day of my life."

Then his 14-year-old son, "who would never say anything is amazing", couldn't help but agree: "I think this is the best day of my life, too."

"To be able to share that with the two boys was incredible."