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'Snide' - Stuart Barnes' Tweet about Gareth Bale has enraged Twitter
By Online Editors
An off-hand Tweet about footballer Gareth Bale by rugby pundit Stuart Barnes has enraged Twitter. It was revealed today that the Real Madrid striker has donated £500,000 to the NHS in their fight against COVID-19, a move widely applauded across the platform.
Bale donated the sum to the official charity of the University Hospital of Wales - the hospital where he was born.
Barnes however elicited a tidal wave of Twitter acrimony by simply suggesting that the donation equated to a relatively small amount of Bale's salary.
Bale is said to earn in the region of £350,000 per week after tax, and Barnes said: "That is a great gesture. But what does he earn compared to the average salary in the United Kingdom and how does that translate?"
It didn't take long for Twitter to start dogpiling on the former England 10.
One Twitter user posted: "A little snide... What do you earn compared to the average salary in the UK? Have you donated two weeks' wages?", while another said: "What a horrible reply. He doesnt benefit from doing it, he's helping countless strangers by donating 500,000 more pounds than he had to."
While some supported Barnes, the majority took him to task for what many perceived as a needless and mean spirited Tweet.
It's not the first time Barnes has triggered the ire of Twitter for his position on a Welsh superstar. In 2018 following Sam Warburton's retirement from rugby, a move that took the global rugby community by surprise, Barnes was one of the first to react.
After offering his condolences and congratulations to Warburton, Barnes dropped something of a Twitter bomb. “You could knock his game but he understood it was okay as long as the stick wasn’t personal and it could never be that as he is such a decent man. Great player? No. Great influence? Definitely”
“I am not courting popularity. The day I do is the day I stop being me. Honestly, do you think SW would be offended because someone doesn’t think him great?” he later Tweeted.
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Latest Comments
Reiko should be the dual winger guy as he should be used to playing either side given he's had to do both at 13 (pass and step left/right).
Maybe he has such a bad preference that that's why he's not a good center?
Go to commentsAgreed. And I don't have much more to say on it, but I had been having one thought that sprang to mind at the tail of this discussion, and that is that it's not all about Razor.
It's not about any coach being "right". I think a lot of selections can become defense and while it doesn't really apply here I really enjoyed that Andy Farrell just gave into the public demands and changed out his team for the change that had been asked for. Like why not? This is the countries team, keep them engaged. The whole reason i've only just finished watching the game was because I wasn't interested in watching any of the selected players against a team like Italy (still actually enjoyed the first half with the contest Italy made of it).
Faz leap frogs a younger half back into start. He hands the golden child the game over July's golden child. He gives an old winger a go, a new flanker and hooker. None of them really did any good, certainly not enough to suggest they should have been promoted above others, but who cares? You won, and you gave the country what they wanted, that's all that matters after all. It's for the country, not the one in charge who thinks they have to have their own pied piper tune playing.
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