WAYNE Rooney scored a social media own goal today after he mistook the Ivory
Coast flag for the Irish flag in his St Patrick’s day Instagram post.
The celebratory post has been met with ridicule online with hundreds of people
pointing out his the gaffe.
The Manchester United forward posted a picture of himself with former Irish
teammates John O’Shea and Jonny Evans holding the Premier league trophy with
the caption: “#TBT (throwback Thursday) saying: Celebrating with my mates.
Happy St Patrick’s Day.”
The message was followed by emojis of a thumbs up, a shamrock and the flag of
the Ivory Coast.
The Irish flag features green, white and orange stripes from left to right
while the Ivorian flag features the same colours in reverse order.
The England captain’s post, which has been liked over 34,000 times on the
site, has been ridiculed online by fans that spotted the embarrassing gaffe.
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Instagram user Alastair Jackson commented: “He’s only gone and put the Ivory
Coast flag up.”
And user viren_dosanjh posted: “Wazza that’s the Ivory Coast flag.”
In a reference to Ivorian Manchester City star Yaya Toure, user axgil wrote:
“Happy Yaya Day.”
Rooney has extensive Irish ancestry with his grandparents hailing from the
country.
His maternal grandmother, Patricia Fitzsimons, was once quoted as saying that
Rooney was English on the outside and Irish on the inside.
But the England captain has said in the past he never considered playing for
the Republic saying last year ahead of England’s first game in Dublin in 20
years: “I’ve never thought about playing for Ireland. I was born in England
and England is the country that I love.
“When I was at Everton, Lee Carsley asked me about it and it had never crossed
my mind. I do have Irish grandparents, but I don’t think I was ever destined
to play for Ireland.”
Manchester United face a much win game against rivals Liverpool in the Europa
League tonight after they lost 2-0 at Anfield last week.
Now watch Wayne Rooney in action for Manchester United