Wayne Rooney posts Ivory Coast flag in St Patrick's Day gaffe

The Manchester United striker was trying to post the Ireland flag

Thursday 17 March 2016 14:59 EDT

Wayne Rooney (GETTY IMAGES)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

To be fair to Wayne Rooney, the flags are very similar.

But that didn't stop the Manchester United striker being mocked on social media after he accidently posted the Ivory Coast flag rather than the Ireland flag on Instagram to celebrate St Patrick's Day.

The England captain, who is of Irish decent, posted a picture of himself with former Irish team-mates Jonny Evans and John O'Shea holding the Premier League trophy.

The text accompanying the image read: "#TBT (throwback Thursday) - Celebrating with my mates. Happy St Patrick's Day". So far so good. Then there was a 'thumbs up' emoji. Still all good. Then a shamrock. Rooney still on point. And then the Ivory Coast flag. Oh dear.

The two flags feature the same colours, however the Ireland flag goes green-white-orange from left to right, while the Ivory Coast flag is orange-white-green (see below).