Hooperman, aka Daniel Fulham, free to return to Ireland after passport issue in Bulgaria

“Boy,” Ron Burgundy once noted, “that escalated quickly”. A mother’s appeal on RTÉ News at One, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Ireland’s greatest goalscorer all played a part in getting the former Shamrock Rovers mascot released from a Bulgarian prison cell.

The story was not so much a case of mistaken identity but flat refusal by Bulgarian border patrol to believe Daniel Fulham’s true identity. Travelling home as himself, and not Hooperman, Fulham was unable to convince authorities his passport picture was genuine when crossing into Romania following last Tuesday’s Champions League tie against Ludogorets Razgrad.

“Thanks to a number of politicians and the Department of Foreign Affairs in getting this resolved quickly,” Rovers tweeted. “The club has arranged and paid for the flight home and we look forward to seeing Dan at Saturday’s game.

“There was no question on the validity of Daniel’s passport from the Irish passport authorities who clarified same with their Bulgarian counterparts. A taxi has been arranged to bring Daniel from the Romanian border to the Irish embassy in Bucharest. The embassy team will look after Daniel today and drive him to the airport where the club has arranged a flight to bring Daniel home later tonight.”

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Minister Simon Coveney had earlier quote tweeted Rovers appeal for Fulham’s release by stating his department were “working on this” while Robbie Keane, who was recently coached a Rovers underage team, seemingly contacted Celtic and Bulgaria legend Stan Petrov to intervene.

“On the case since this morning,” Petrov tweeted, “I will be at the [second leg in Tallaght] on Tuesday. I hope the guys will be back by then.”

Fulham’s mother Noeleen explained why her son did not look like his passport photo, which resulted in the Bulgarian police rejecting all other forms of identification and social media avatars before detaining him.

“He had surgery on his jaw,” she explained. “His face was slightly swollen when he took that photograph and that’s why he looked different.”

All’s well that ends well.