Why one man got a tattoo in honour of a floodlight
- Published
Max Mckeown got a tattoo of the tallest floodlight at the St Helens ground in Swansea
A favourite pet, a lost relative, your number one singer... love is often the inspiration behind tattoos.
But a floodlight?
That's what Max Mckeown chose when he went under the needle.
As you might expect, the inked tribute permanently etched on the 23-year-old's calf isn't just any old floodlight.
It's the 150ft (45m) tall giant that sits at the north-eastern corner of Swansea Rugby Club's St Helens stadium.
According to local legend, it's the tallest freestanding floodlight in Europe.
And Max, who lives in Cardiff, says his love affair with the leviathan lantern started when it saved him on the way back to a mate's from a night out.
He says he'd found himself lost and alone in Swansea with no phone, and made the "rather silly decision" to get back by himself despite not knowing the area.
Then he remembered his destination was right next to the rugby club.
"I kept on wandering around until eventually towering above all the houses, much like the North Star, I saw the big light of St Helens ground," he says.
"Like the wise men to Bethlehem, it guided me home."
Max Mckeown lives in Cardiff, but was visiting a friend in Swansea
From then on, according to Max, the light became "a bit of a personality trait", one that he even made a key feature of his dating profile at the time.
"My girlfriend ended up swiping right on it and we've been dating for two-and-half years," he says.
But while the light story became a useful icebreaker at parties, Max says he realised it might be time to "put the joke to bed" when his Instagram was "pretty much filled with wall-to-wall lights content".
"Frankly, I was bored of it," he says.
"I thought 'I need a punchline. I need a conclusion'.
"And what better punchline or conclusion than just to get it on me permanently?"
Max says he's "not a fan of tattoos" but decided to get the black-and-white design, showing the floodlight looming over rooftops inked in 2021.
His decision was partly down to the impressive claim that the structure is "Europe's tallest freestanding light".
But is that actually true?
The floodlight at the St Helens ground in Swansea (top left is 150m tall according to Swansea RFC
According to David Dow from Swansea RFC, the height would have been hard to beat when it was first erected in 1964.
"Whether this claim still stands is debatable, but it is possible because most newer floodlights do not emanate from a freestanding tower," he told Newsbeat.
So, what will Max do if it turns out the light isn't quite the record-breaker he thought it was?
He says: "I'll probably get a tattoo on the other leg with a footnote, an asterisk or something that says 'one of the tallest'."
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