Watch: Wrexham MP criticised after getting name of town’s football team wrong
The MP for Wrexham has been criticised after getting the name of the town’s football team wrong while speaking in the House of Commons.
Speaking in a debate about Wrexham’s City of Culture 2025 bid, Sarah Atherton called the football team “Wrexham Athletic Football Club”.
The Conservative MP’s mistake was corrected on Hansard, the official record of the House of Commons, to “Wrexham association football club”.
But the video of the gaffe was leapt upon by her political opponents, with Wrexham Labour Party saying: “The Conservative MP for Wrexham couldn’t even get the name of the town’s football club right.”
Leader of the Plaid Cymru Group Marc Jones added: “Tell me you’re a Chester fan without telling me you’re a Chester fan….”
Late last night in the House of Commons.
Up the Athletic 💪😂#Wrexham #WxmAFC pic.twitter.com/QuBzTz07bz
— Craig Jones 🏴 (@craigyjones17) May 17, 2022
Speaking in Tuesday’s debate, Sarah Atherton said that Wrexham was a town “built on brewing, football and mining”.
“To take football, which is very topical at the moment, Wrexham athletic football club is on a high.
“On Sunday, I will be cheering on the reds at the FA trophy final against Bromley at Wembley—and of course, we will win.
“Someone would have had to have had their eye off the ball to have missed the fact that Wrexham AFC is now owned by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Wrexham has certainly been put on the map.”
The town responds to Tory MP Sarah Atherton’s Wrexham ‘Athletic’ blunder 😂 #UpTheAthleticTown pic.twitter.com/gihWiF0Azd
— Carrie Harper 🏴 (@CarrieAHarper) May 18, 2022
She added that Wrexham winning the City of Culture designation would be a boost to the Union.
“One key difference sets the Wrexham apart from the other three, and that is Wales,” she said.
“If Wrexham were to become city of culture 2025, it would be the first Welsh winner of the title since the inception of the competition.
“As a proud Unionist, as I know a few of us Conservative Members are, I believe that a Welsh winner would highlight the commitment of this Government to the Union.”
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Atherton, who wouldn’t make the first XI, turns Wrexham’s successes into a political football.
Show her the red card, someone!
So she got the clubs nickname wrong as well as its proper name. What a bandwagon jumper.What kind of a-hole voted her in? A person with no links to the area, no knowledge of the place and from another country. How is this allowed?
I don’t know about the football (except to say da iawn Wrecsam) but the lady is a chameleon when it comes to blending in with the House decor…
Reminds me a little of Redwood’s national anthem gig.
Pob lwc i Wrecsam Wanderers United, hope you smash those Harlequin Ranger Harriers at the weekend. Score those hoops for Camroo
I hope they win a try in the eleventh quarter…only three frames to go and they will be in with a chance of winning the Tag Team Championship medal.
I’m sorry, I don’t know anything about water polo
All you need to know is that the poor horses almost drowned …
It really stuns me that this deeply shallow woman managed to get the vote in 2019, how jaded must you be to vote for someone who has always had an air of sincerity about her? Being in receipt of her bedside manner must have been like being told “there there” by a 1970’s era Cylon. I have emailed her many times about many things and I have begun to feel rather sad for her, she is clearly out of her depth, any response I get is full of political spin that has an air of Party HQ about it, if… Read more »
This looks like a very poor reflection on the voters in her constituency, they must have swallowed hook line and sinker, the utter tripe peddled by the Tory party during the election campaign. Just like all the promises they made before the Brexit vote, if it sounds too good to be true, then it is. Lesson learned, one would hope.
It was a one-off resulting from an exceptional set of circumstances: Like most people in both Wales and England, Wrexham people were sick of being in limbo and went for Johnson’s “Get Brexit done” line. At the same time, UK Labour under Corbin failed to increase their support.
Cant see this being repeated in the next UK election, tbh. I think it’ll be hwyl fawr to her.
This is what you get when you dance with the devil and vote in a Conservative career politician that cares so much about your town that they don’t even know ” A” in A.F.C means Association not Athletic lol. And besides having Hollywood A-listers as owners, Wrexham is the oldest football club in Wales having being founded in 1864.
PS. Note to Conservative MP Sara Atherton. Wrexham is a football club not regional Rugby side.
“As a proud Unionist, as I know a few of us Conservative Members are, I believe that a Welsh winner would highlight the commitment of this Government to the Union.” – here we have it an MP for the governing party (pretending to support a football team simply for political expediency) calling for the city of culture bid to be gerrymandered for her own political gain.
Can anyone tell me how the this ladys’ wrexham council chums did in their local elections ?? Opps 🏳️