12 March 2012 Last updated at 12:45 ET

Ed Miliband explains football match attendance

Ed Miliband was asked whether he preferred the NHS or football

Ed Miliband has explained why he watched football just three hours after he was due to give a speech on the NHS that he cancelled because of illness.

Labour's leader was spotted at a game between Hull City and Ipswich town, which started at 15:00 GMT on Saturday.

A day earlier, Mr Miliband cancelled his appearance at a rally against NHS reforms, also in Hull.

He told a press conference on Monday he had not been "well" and that the match was a "long-standing engagement".

Mr Miliband was pictured at the KC Stadium alongside Hull City chairman Assem Allam, whose team drew the match 2-2.

'Not well'

The opposition leader normally counts himself a fan of the team's Yorkshire rivals Leeds United.

Mr Miliband had been due to address crowds in Queen Victoria Square, Hull, at midday, as part of his party's Drop The Bill campaign against the government's NHS plans.

At a press conference on Monday, he was asked whether he regarded football as more important than healthcare.

Mr Miliband explained the situation saying: "I was not well on Friday so we said I wasn't going to be at the rally. The rally was then cancelled.

"I kept a long-standing engagement on the Saturday."

Football, as well as politics, is apparently in the Miliband family's blood.

The Labour leader's brother David, a former foreign secretary, is vice-chairman of the Premier League club Sunderland.