Packers fan to receive helmet after being denied autograph ball he won at 49ers event

UPDATE: The young fan has now received a special gift from Packers quarterback Jordan Love, along with gifts from 49ers fans who would help make things right. Click here to read the story.

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GREEN BAY, Wis. (WLUK) — There may be justice for a young Green Bay Packers fan who was denied an autographed football he won over the weekend at a San Francisco 49ers tailgate party.

The video of the ordeal has been shared hundreds of times on Facebook.

Joseph De La Rosa, 14, and his brother, Samuel Strom, wanted to show their uncle, a 49ers fan, what Wisconsin hospitality is all about. But the day before the game, when they took their uncle to a 49ers party, the brothers’ experience was not what they had hoped for.

De La Rosa was selected as the winner of an autographed Christian McCaffrey football. As you might expect, that didn’t go down too well in a bar full of Niners fans.

The rally organizers denied De La Rosa the ball. Instead of choosing another person — a 49ers fan — to pass the ball to.

“I felt embarrassed or judged and kind of ashamed,” said De La Rosa, an eighth-grader at Green Bay’s Franklin Middle School.

“I was frustrated,” Strom said. “Just because we’re wearing Packers gear, we couldn’t get the ball?”

The competition for the autographed football was free to enter. Fans just had to sign up online.

The 49ers’ nonprofit fan organization The Niner Empire hosted the event, but the team handled the giveaways, according to The Niner Empire.

In the video, you can see that the person on the microphone appears to tell De La Rosa that he would give him something in a bit.

“What they originally gave him instead of the ball was a pair of sunglasses that everybody received at the event, whoever came in with you got a pair of these 49ers sunglasses,” Strom said.

The brothers say eventually someone from the 49ers came by and took down their contact information and told them they wanted to send something else.

FOX 11 reached out to the 49ers to see if they would do anything. After we interviewed De La Rosa, a team official emailed us that the team had sent an autographed helmet. The helmet is signed by safety Talanoa Hufanga, not reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffrey.

“I really wanted the ball because I’m a big sportsman,” De La Rosa said. “I like to collect things. I have other signed Packers balls. It would be great to get that.”

In a bit of irony, De La Rosa wore a Grinch mask to the game. Unfortunately, this story looks like it won’t end with him getting the gift he was originally supposed to receive.