Twitter Users Bond Over Cases of Mistaken Soccer Identity

What's This?

Manchester United's manager David Moyes looks on from the dugout before the start of an English Premier League soccer match on March 22, 2014.

Image: Sang Tan/Associated Press

By Sam Laird2014-03-28 17:11:45 UTC

Sometimes, as a wise man once sung, we all need someone to lean on. Someone who feels our pain.

Three Twitter users with unfortunate handles — kindred souls engulfed by sports fandom's tumultuous seas — found just that kind of friendship in each other on Thursday. Theirs is a story of unlikely transnational connections, irrational behavior, mistaken identity, straight-up trolling and — ultimately — compassion.

Dramatis Personae

Ravi Visvesvaraya Sharada Prasad: An IT consultant from New Delhi, India. Goes by the Twitter handle @rvp.

Robin van Persie: A Dutch soccer star who plays for Manchester United and Holland's national team. Loved by some fans, loathed by others. Widely known by the nickname RVP.

Sarah Moyes: A young woman who lives in Scotland and works in marketing. Goes by the Twitter handle @moysey.

David Moyes: A Scottish former soccer star and current manager of Manchester United. Speculated to be on his way out at United. No relation to Sarah. Called "Moysey" by many fans.

Ashley Van Buren: A woman who lives in New York City and works in theater. Goes by the Twitter handle @rvb.

André Villas-Boas: A Portuguese soccer manager currently with Zenit Saint Petersburg. Has had a less-than-stellar coaching career. Often referred to by fans and some media as simply AVB.

The background:

RVP

Manchester United's Robin van Persie, right, trains with teammates at Carrington training ground in Manchester, Monday, Feb. 24, 2014.

Image: Jon Super/Associated Press

Last April, Prasad enjoyed a brief moment of miniature global fame after a hat-trick by van Persie caused a deluge of mistaken fans from around the world to send congratulatory messages to Prasad's account, @rvp. It was not the first time this had happened.

Prasad had a great attitude about the whole thing, cracking jokes and taking the attention in his stride, but he did tell the BBC that it could all become a bit much sometimes.

"I'm a fan of Robin van Persie, so I understand people wanting to congratulate him, and most of the messages or mentions are nice," he said. "But it's a real nuisance for me. I keep having to tell everyone I'm not Robin van Persie and blocking unwanted followers."

As you can imagine, @moysey and @avb have also experienced similar unwanted spurts of Twitter attention from fans mistaking them for the real-life Moysey and AVB.

The feel-good payoff

Three lost souls just taking involuntary swims in the celebrity fish bowl, right? Perhaps — until this week, that is, when all three somehow found one another online for some group commiseration.

On Tuesday, Sarah Moyes posted this tweet after fans who thought she was David Moyes or a daughter of David Moyes sent her messages:

The mix-up was covered by media in the United Kingdom and online. Then Van Buren weighed-in to tell Moyes that she's experienced the same thing, thanks to not being that AVB:

Prasad welcomed Moyes to the ranks:

Van Buren riffed on Villas-Boas' spotty coaching record to posit that she may have it a little easier than her two compadres:

Prasad pointed out to a random fourth party that, while funny, the constant confusion comes with actual downsides:

But that it also has upsides:

To which Van Buren agreed:

Perhaps there is some hope for humanity after all. Of course, we should point out that Twitter does allow its users to change their handles.