England fans have made the headlines following their Man of the Match voting on the interactive website of lead sponsor Vauxhall during England’s 5-0 win against San Marino.
63 per cent of Three Lions supporters voted goalkeeper Joe Hart as their team’s best performer in a game where he only touched the ball 11 times.
Vauxhall, the proud sponsor of Home Nations’ Football, announced the somewhat unexpected results on their dedicated England football Twitter account @VauxhallEngland:
Joe Hart is YOUR #England Man of the Match after winning 63% of the vote – http://t.co/LKotxAku8B Solid. pic.twitter.com/djnIsBC0Tb
— Vauxhall England (@VauxhallEngland) October 9, 2014
After a comfortable 5-0 win for Roy Hodgson’s side, courtesy of goals from Phil Jagielka, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Andros Townsend and an own goal by Alessandro Della Valle, England supporters’ humorous hijacking quickly became known across the globe.
Within an hour of the announcement, nearly 2,500 users of the social networking site hit the retweet button, with thousands also engaging on Facebook.
Cheryl Stibbs, Vauxhall’s sponsorship marketing manager, said: “Not only did England fans show their passionate support for their country with over 55,000 attending Wembley last night, they also showed they have a fantastic sense of humour.
“Joe literally did not put a glove wrong all evening.
“Joe’s goalkeeping colleague Fraser Forster has been keeping everyone entertained with his Vauxhall Video diary throughout the week, and fan engagement is absolutely at the heart of everything we do with not just our England lead sponsorship but our partnerships with Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
“The big question is whether Joe Hart will win the Fans’ Man of the Match tonight in the Under 21 play off game against Croatia.”
The Estonia game – another quiet 90 minute for Hart delivered similar results – with 82 per cent of supporters voting for the goalkeeper.
Macesport handle the media and PR activation of Vauxhall, as part of their sponsorship of the four Home Nations football teams.
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