When footballers and cricketers messed up on social media

Social media has brought professional athletes and supporters closer than ever. The mere fact that fans can speak to superstars on Twitter and Facebook is something that few would have seen coming, a decade or so ago.Whether it is posting photos of their favourite moments, or making their voice heard on cricketing issues around the world, social media has done a lot to bridge the gap between the lifeblood of the sport (supporters) and its superstars (players).But what they have to say isn’t always insightful and sometimes puts them in a spot of bother.Here are five occasions when footballers and cricketers messed up on social media.

#5 Jan Vertonghen

Context is everything as Vertonghen found out

Sometimes something innocuous is what leads you into big trouble. While context is always the most important thing, when interpreting or analysing something someone said, it is difficult to get that when you post something on Twitter.

So before Tottenham fans come in crying or Arsenal supporters come in laughing about the tweet, let me provide you with a little bit of context, to the tweet that Jan Vertonghen posted in the summer of 2012.

Firstly, he wasn’t referring to Spurs. In fact, it wasn’t even about football. The Belgian defender was talking about how bad the national side’s bowling (sport) is during a team outing. However, ever time Spurs lose, rival fans enjoy retweeting it and having fun.

#4 Suresh Raina

Raina’s Twitter account landed him in controversy

One of the issues with having a verified Twitter account is that it only needs a minute lapse in concentration for something to happen to get yourself in trouble. Suresh Raina found this out the hard way as a tweet from his account landed him in the midst of a controversy after Pakistan went out of the ICC World T20 in 2012.

The tweet was a dig at the Pakistan team and read: "Ek do din late gaye ghar !!!! Woh bhi besharam ki tarah Gaye... Bye bye Pakistan!!!!”

While that raised more than a few eyebrows, it was promptly deleted and the southpaw said it was the work of his nephew.

"Smart phones r dangerous. Discovered it last night after my nephew posted random tweets. I`m a sportsman and would never disrespect,” he tweeted a while later. "Though I already deleted it, I felt its better to clarify. To all those who r upset, I`m sorry. I`m not one to show disrespect.”

#3 Ryan Babel

Babel made history after his Twitter post

Sometimes frustration can get the better of footballers, both on and off the pitch. When it does, having a Twitter account is perhaps the worst thing, as Ryan Babel found out in 2011.

The Dutchman, who was at Liverpool at the moment, was disappointed with the performance of Howard Webb’s performance in Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford in the FA Cup.

He tweeted a picture of Webb in a United jersey and wrote: “And they call him one of the best referees? That’s a joke. SMH [shaking my head].”

Unsurprisingly, he was fined by the FA and made history as he became the first professional footballer to be censured for comments on social media.

This was the picture he tweeted.

#2 Sergio Ramos

Ramos ended 2015 in embarassing fashion

When your team aren’t doing as well as they should be, the last thing you would want to do is embarrass them. But Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos did just that on the final day of 2015.

What looked like an innocuous collage of his year, turned out to be one of the biggest Twitter gaffe of 2015. One of the pictures in the collage was that of Lionel Messi’s child, rather than his own. And Twitter users were quick to spot that.

However, the World Cup winner quickly realised his mistake and has since replaced the picture and deleted the first tweet.

The collage by Ramos embarrassing himself

This is the photograph of Messi’s son and his better half.

Bienvenido hijo!!! Que felices de tenerte entre nosotros!! Te amamos @leomessi Thiagui y mama#familiade4

A photo posted by AntoRoccuzzo88 (@antoroccuzzo88) on Sep 12, 2015 at 5:09am PDT

#1 Shahid Afridi

Afridi did himself no favours on Twitter

They say it is always the little things that make a big difference. In Shahid Afridi’s case, that was precisely what happened. There are many things Afridi is very good at, keeping things quiet with the ball, scoring big and fast with the bat, it seems as though spelling names isn’t one of them.

When an enthusiastic fan posed a question to the Pakistani T20 skipper, Afridi made the simple error of pronouncing a simple name wrong.

Little update: We are s***!!!

— Jan Vertonghen (@JanVertonghen) May 22, 2012

@LalaMySuperHero sorry hijra

— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) July 6, 2015