'Beautiful moment' - Proposal during Brighton and Hove Albion match shown on TV

Malcolm Bashford, from Worthing, got down on one knee in the Amex Stadium tunnel to ask Candice Konig to be his wife, before Brighton played Wolves on Monday night (January 22).

The pair, both 52, met whilst working together in the matchday tunnel team at the club and have been together for two years.

The engagement, which was caught by television cameras, was shown live on air to pundits Peter Crouch and Steve Sidwell.

Sidwell said: “She looks quite surprised there.”

In response, Crouch quipped: “She does yeah, she’s thinking ‘In the tunnel, really?”

The former Liverpool and Tottenham striker joked that his wife Abbey Clancy ‘would have given me a slap’ if he proposed at the football but added: “She’s not as in to football as I’m sure this lady is. Beautiful moment.”

Speaking to the Worthing Herald, Candice said: “It didn't immediately click what was happening. I was thinking what on earth is going on?

"I didn't remember a lot of it until I watched the video. It was just crazy.

“We thought it was just a little thing and nothing major but people walked past me at the stadium and said congratulations. Everybody was mentioning it. We didn't realise it was on TV.

"We are blown away by the publicity. We just didn't expect it to be like that, it's been crazy.”

Candice, who runs Sussex charity Forward Facing alongside her security role at the Amex, said love blossomed with Malcolm after he took her out for a coffee following the loss of someone close to her.

“All our friends in the tunnel had tried to get us together,” she said.

"We lost three of our friends at the Amex. including my best friend. He did it for me to be really special for the people we've lost this year.”

In response to Crouch’s comments on TV, Candice joked that she may have had a similar reaction to Abbey Clancy if it wasn’t for the sentimentality behind the proposal location.

“I to be honest would have done the same as his wife,” Candice said.

“I know why he did it and that was to make me happy, with the memories.

“I would not like to be a celebrity. One day of it is enough. I feel sorry for the footballers now.”