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Twitter Users Bond Over Cases of Mistaken Soccer Identity
Sometimes, as a wise man once sung, we all need someone to lean on. Someone who feels our pain.
Three Twitter users with unfortunate handles — kindred souls engulfed by sports fandom's tumultuous seas — found just that kind of friendship in each other on Thursday. Theirs is a story of unlikely transnational connections, irrational behavior, mistaken identity, straight-up trolling and — ultimately — compassion.
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Dramatis Personae
Ravi Visvesvaraya Sharada Prasad: An IT consultant from New Delhi, India. Goes by the Twitter handle @rvp.
Robin van Persie: A Dutch soccer star who plays for Manchester United and Holland's national team. Loved by some fans, loathed by others. Widely known by the nickname RVP.
Sarah Moyes: A young woman who lives in Scotland and works in marketing. Goes by the Twitter handle @moysey.
David Moyes: A Scottish former soccer star and current manager of Manchester United. Speculated to be on his way out at United. No relation to Sarah. Called "Moysey" by many fans.
Ashley Van Buren: A woman who lives in New York City and works in theater. Goes by the Twitter handle @rvb.
André Villas-Boas: A Portuguese soccer manager currently with Zenit Saint Petersburg. Has had a less-than-stellar coaching career. Often referred to by fans and some media as simply AVB.
The background:
Manchester United's Robin van Persie, right, trains with teammates at Carrington training ground in Manchester, Monday, Feb. 24, 2014.
Image: Jon Super/Associated Press
Last April, Prasad enjoyed a brief moment of miniature global fame after a hat-trick by van Persie caused a deluge of mistaken fans from around the world to send congratulatory messages to Prasad's account, @rvp. It was not the first time this had happened.
Prasad had a great attitude about the whole thing, cracking jokes and taking the attention in his stride, but he did tell the BBC that it could all become a bit much sometimes.
"I'm a fan of Robin van Persie, so I understand people wanting to congratulate him, and most of the messages or mentions are nice," he said. "But it's a real nuisance for me. I keep having to tell everyone I'm not Robin van Persie and blocking unwanted followers."
As you can imagine, @moysey and @avb have also experienced similar unwanted spurts of Twitter attention from fans mistaking them for the real-life Moysey and AVB.
The feel-good payoff
Three lost souls just taking involuntary swims in the celebrity fish bowl, right? Perhaps — until this week, that is, when all three somehow found one another online for some group commiseration.
On Tuesday, Sarah Moyes posted this tweet after fans who thought she was David Moyes or a daughter of David Moyes sent her messages:
I am no relation to the football manager David Moyes. Can people please stop mentioning me in tweets, I'm pretty sure he has his own account
— Sarah Moyes (@moyesy) March 25, 2014
The mix-up was covered by media in the United Kingdom and online. Then Van Buren weighed-in to tell Moyes that she's experienced the same thing, thanks to not being that AVB:
@moyesy same thing happened to me a few months back. It's bizarre and frustrating, but it'll (mostly) blow over.
— Ashley Van Buren (@avb) March 26, 2014
Prasad welcomed Moyes to the ranks:
@moyesy welcome to the mistaken identity club. You have had it really bad since man united lost to man city. My sympathies.
— RaviVisvesvaraPrasad (@rvp) March 27, 2014
Van Buren riffed on Villas-Boas' spotty coaching record to posit that she may have it a little easier than her two compadres:
@rvp @moyesy My guy gets fired a lot. So I get some breaks.
— Ashley Van Buren (@avb) March 27, 2014
Prasad pointed out to a random fourth party that, while funny, the constant confusion comes with actual downsides:
@toontomm. The real people are @avb, @moyesy & me. The others just happen to share our nameinitials. It may be funny for you but not for us.
— RaviVisvesvaraPrasad (@rvp) March 27, 2014
But that it also has upsides:
@toontomm i think @avb & @moyesy are wonderful
— RaviVisvesvaraPrasad (@rvp) March 27, 2014
To which Van Buren agreed:
@rvp likewise! @ToonTomm @moyesy
— Ashley Van Buren (@avb) March 28, 2014
Perhaps there is some hope for humanity after all. Of course, we should point out that Twitter does allow its users to change their handles.
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