The Conservative party has found itself on the receiving end of online ridicule thanks to a tweet urging on the England squad ahead of their recent clash with Belgium.
The post – which featured a picture of Jesse Lingard and Raheem Sterling in a blue setting – exhorted the team to “make it three wins out of three”, which would see England top its World Cup group.
‘Own goal’
However, there was one minor detail which fellow twitterers were quick to highlight – that Sterling supports Labour. With added irony, neither of the footballers pictured actually played.
Come on you #ThreeLions Let's make it 3 wins out of 3!
#ENGBEL #ENG #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/1IdAE4ZBhs
— Conservatives (@Conservatives) June 28, 2018
In the 2015 general election, Sterling gave his backing to Labour candidate Dawn Butler for Brent Central. Video footage from the time shows the footballer thanking Ms Butler for her work.
And it wasn’t long before the replies started flowing, with several posting links to previous articles detailing Sterling’s Labour allegiance.
You can cheer for Raheem Sterling, but he's not cheering for you
https://t.co/diy24qLWOf
— Paul Stevens (@paul_d_stevens) June 28, 2018
One said the Conservatives had scored an “own goal”, while another said it seemed “a bit weird to slap a party logo over a photo of the players”.
Grassroots Labour group Momentum also got in on the action, retweeting the Conservative post and commenting: “You do realise Raheem Sterling is a Labour supporter, right? #ENGBEL”.
You do realise Raheem Sterling is a Labour supporter, right?
#ENGBEL https://t.co/G5rK8d2iRv
— Momentum (@PeoplesMomentum) June 28, 2018
There were those who wanted to keep politics out of it all together, with one person replying to Momentum: “He’s an England player. That’s what matters here, let’s just wish everyone well. I couldn’t care less how the players vote.”
Another said: “Not keen on politicising international sporting events. Let’s keep it on the pitch people!”
Colombia up next
In the end, it was Belgium that came out on top thanks to a goal from Adnan Januzaj six minutes into the second half.
England is still in the running for the cup however, and will next face Colombia on Tuesday.
In the interests of fairness, i should point out that it isn’t just the Tories who have been ribbed for their online activity during the 2018 tournament.
Earlier this month it was Jeremy Corbyn who was taken to task for a good luck tweet he posted to the England squad.
As we prepare for England's first match in the #WorldCup, here's an inspirational message from one of our country's finest ever football managers.
I wish our fans a safe tournament and the players the best of luck. Let's get a win.#ENGTUN pic.twitter.com/BTBVQNzIaN
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) June 18, 2018
In the tweet, Corbyn shared an “inspirational quote” from the late Bill Shankly, who he described as “one of our country’s finest ever football managers”.
While Shankly did once lead Liverpool, he is Scottish by nationality – something fans were swift to point out. Others suggested those quibbling over the wording were a “little pedantic”.
Twitter, eh.
Read more:
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Liz Truss tells Tory MPs to be more ‘out there’ on Twitter and Instagram
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