Rashford posed with a ball used in the Australian Football League
An Australian TV star went on a furious social media rant in response to a photo of Manchester United's Marcus Rashford posing with the ball used in the Australian Football League (AFL).
The photo was posted to the AFL's social media platforms as Rashford and United arrived in Melbourne for the next leg of their pre-season tour.
https://twitter.com/AFL/status/1547485443629121536
'This is just f**king embarrassing'
But Lucy Zelic was left less than impressed with the AFL's decision and described the photo as "f**king embarrassing."
She said: "Can someone tell me what the point of this is? Is Marcus suddenly going to switch codes and sign for an AFL side? Go and pat a koala, meet with proud members of our Indigenous communities and spend time with grassroots FOOTBALL clubs. This is just f**king embarrassing."
Zelic's rant was in response to the AFL's alleged hate towards football, highlighting that the former head of the organisation, Andrew Demetriou, refused to allow one of the biggest stadiums in the country to be used for Australia's failed 2009 World Cup bid.
She continued: "As a code, the AFL and its representatives have done nothing but shit on football time and time again. Who could forget in 09’ when we bid for the WC and Demetriou refused to give up Etihad for an INTERNATIONAL tournament. Agreeing to be apart of this stupidity is just insulting."
https://twitter.com/LucyZelic/status/1547534302744702976
Rashford is with the rest of the United squad on a pre-season tour of Australia
There was further outrage as Rashford was later pictured with a number of figures from Melbourne's sporting clubs at AAMI Park, but the photo didn't feature any players from the A-League or W-League.
The photo was labelled as "cringeworthy" by ex-Football Australia communications boss Bonita Mersiades.
"I find it cringeworthy that Marcus Rashford is rolled-out to do a photo call with a bunch of teams he's likely never heard of...for what purpose?" she said.
https://twitter.com/bonitamersiades/status/1547478705840484353
United won the second game of their pre-season campaign against Melbourne Victory on Friday, beating the A-League side 4-1 at the MCG.
Goals from Scott McTominay, Anthony Martial, Rashford and an own goal cancelled out Chris Ikonomidis' fifth minute opener.
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