A European championship qualifier between Northern Ireland and Germany rage-trended on social media, not because of the platform’s enthusiasm for the game, but because the game's hashtag resembled a common American racial slur.
The game, held in Belfast, was “one mistake away from controversy,” as many social media users pointed out. Having gotten prematurely enraged, some let fly on Twitter anyway, poking fun at themselves.
Others pointed out it could have been worse - a matchup between the African nation of Nigeria and Germany would result in the actual slur, a fact that made the ‘Accidental Racism’ section of Reddit.
Others chided the game for not picking a less provocative title.
There were social media users who actually tweeted about the game, but they were vastly outnumbered.
Germany ended up beating Northern Ireland 2-0.
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