Spurs fans mistake Olympic cyclist for ref, abuse him on Twitter

When football fans are irate, little things like abusing the person they actually intended to abuse lose importance. So when Spurs lost 2-1 to Stoke on Sunday with the help of a few questionable decisions from referee Chris Foy, some of the club's fans went on Twitter and directed their fury at Sir Chris How, who is not a Premier League referee, but a four-time gold medal winning track cyclist.

From the Guardian:

Hoy has said football fans regularly send him insulting Twitter messages after mistaking him for Chris Foy, the Premier League referee who made a number of contentious decisions during Spurs' 2-1 defeat to Stoke on Sunday, including turning down two penalty appeals for handball and sending off the Tottenham defender Youns Kaboul.

"Just for the record 1) I don't need glasses and 2) I do not lead a double life as an English premier league ref. That's Chris Foy," Hoy tweeted. He continued to protest his innocence, adding: "Still getting some rather amusing grief from Spurs fans! On the plus side I've learned some new 4 letter words today. #FoyNotHoy."

At this point, almost all of the tweets directed at Hoy are Spurs fans apologizing for the confusion of their less intelligent brethren and others saying how they wish he had been the referee in that match.

How anyone could make that mix-up is baffling, though. Hoy's Twitter page clearly states that he's a track cyclist and his avatar is an image of him doing just that. Then again, Getty Images did mistakenly caption a photo of referee Chris Foy as Chris Hoy three weeks ago, so maybe this is all part of an elaborate plan from Foy to divert some of the abuse he gets on a regular basis.

Photos: Getty