Twitter has gone from strength to strength in 2014, with many fans and supporters getting into keyboard wars with other fans about anything and everything. Fans aren't the only people to engage in twitter battles, and here are some of the highlights of a year of tension amongst famous sportspeople on social media.
7. KLM v Gael Garcia Bernal
Spawned from the World Cup knockout game between Holland and Mexico, Dutch airline rather "thoughtfully" wished their opponents a safe flight home. Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal, most known for Gillette ads, took exception to this and responded quite strongly.
Both tweets have since been deleted, but you can see the exchange here.
6. Anders Lindegaard v West Brom
When Manchester United came to the Hawthorns, the West Brom twitter account decided to do a spot of trolling. Marouane Fellaini was on the bench for Man United that day, and the above tweet was made moments before he came on and scored.
If that wasn't enough to hurt their pride, Man United's backup goalkeeper responded in disgust.
5. Gary Lineker v Nicklas Bendtner
For some reason, some fans of the Premier League think that Nicklas Bendtner isn't very good. So when the Wolfsburg striker scored two goals in a 5-1 win for the German side, Gary Lineker tweeted this:
Nicklas Bendtner has just scored 2 goals in the last minute for Wolfsburg. This is not a joke. I repeat, this is NOT a joke!
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) November 6, 2014
Needless to say, Bendtner was not pleased. Not pleased at all. What followed was just plain awkward.
4. Paddy Barnes v RTE / Katie Taylor
A two part battle, one which featured Katie Taylor zinging Paddy Barnes, and when RTE got involved, Paddy Barnes got up off the canvas to knock a killer blow for the Irish boxer.
Barnes began the exchange by "congratulating" Katie Taylor on her 5th world title:
Here @KatieTaylor ya may have 5 World titles but have ya got 2 Commonwealth Games titles??? #fightme
— Paddy Barnes OLY (@paddyb_ireland) November 24, 2014
Taylor came back with a classic zinger knocking Barnes, the Commonwealth Games and probably her own mother’s pugilistic abilities.
@paddyb_ireland haha! The commonwealths?! Sure my Ma would win a gold medal in that!!
— Katie Taylor (@KatieTaylor) November 26, 2014
Needless to say, we weren't the only people who were amused with the exchange, and RTE felt the full fury of Barnes's backlash.
3. Rory McIlroy v Brian O'Driscoll
When Rory McIlroy went humble boasting on twitter during the year about his very impressive looking workouts, it was a recently retired Irish rugby international who looks to have caught the 4 time major winner out.
Great leg workout to start the day! #betterneverstops pic.twitter.com/GDifcawU2U
— Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory) November 19, 2014
Those weight look heavy don't they? Not according to Brian O'Driscoll.
2. Gary Lineker v Piers Morgan
If Gary Lineker's previous mention on this list was awkward, he comes across much better in this twitter battle.
When Piers Morgan met Mrs. Lineker at Royal Ascot in June, he decided to try and make Gary, who was in Brazil for the World Cup at the time, jealous.
“@piersmorgan: Hi Jugs @GaryLineker - all under control here. #RoyalAscot pic.twitter.com/BbzltTMwk0” < Closest she's been to a dick for a while
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) June 17, 2014
You can see that Lineker does not think highly of Morgan to say the least, Of course, it's not like Piers Morgan to let things like that go, but all it did was allow Lineker another chance to score more points from the former CNN broadcaster.
1. Rory McIlroy v Darren Cave
When famous people takeover twitter accounts, hilarity frequently ensues. But it's rare that it sparks a hilarious twitter battle. When Ulster and Ireland outside centre Darren Cave was put in charge of the BBC NI twitter account, tweeters were invited to ask him anything with the hashtag #BBCAskCave
Of course, I don't think BBC or Darren were expecting Rory McIlroy to be one of the tweeters.
@BBCSPORTNI @darrencave13 #BBCAskCave are you still the tightest man on the ulster squad?
— Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory) September 29, 2014
Harsh from Rory, although Darren's response was so good that it ellicited some respect from the famous Ulster supporter:
.@BBCSPORTNI @darrencave13 haha touché ????????????????
— Rory Mcilroy (@McIlroyRory) September 29, 2014
