Gaffes to rival the Great North Run medal mishap

Exhausted entrants to the Great North Run sweated their way through Newcastle, Gateshead and South Shields to pick up their medals last week.

No doubt familiar with the route, they were somewhat baffled to find their trinkets adorned with a map of the River Wear winding through Sunderland; a city that is certainly nearby but decidedly not Tyneside or, indeed, anything to do with the event.

Organisers and runners took it all in good spirit, with one wag describing the medal as the “Blunderland edition”, but they have serious competition when it comes to marathon-size mishaps, as our celebration of slip-ups illustrates.

The people of Birmingham are known for their understated, self-deprecating manner. An antidote to shoutier, perhaps less truly confident cities, there is an old joke that the local tourist board motto is: “Don’t tell anyone or the place will be heaving.”

But the city council took hiding its light under a bushel to stunning lengths – roughly 4,300 miles (6,920km) – when praising its citizens for their recycling efforts.

With £15,000 shelled out on 720,000 “Thank You” leaflets, residents were treated to a panorama of the Birmingham skyline.

Only problem, it was the skyline of Birmingham, Alabama – in the United States – whose laid-back mayor said: “I thought it was flattering. And please continue to use the skyline – it doesn’t bother me.”

• Unsurprisingly, Brummies also thought it was “pretty funny” as you can read here

In 2014, comedian Seann Walsh was forced to cancel a gig in Hertford after he mistakenly travelled to the city of, erm… Hereford 150 miles (240km) away.

To be fair to the quipster, it would have been difficult to engage the front row from that far let alone project to the back of the room.

His comic capers did not end there either. The original gig was 45 minutes from his house, but a cancelled train meant he was still trying to get home four hours later.

Geographical rivalries can always spark humour, or outrage, but football knows how to take it to another level.

Even on a clear day Fleetwood Town and Barrow AFC would struggle to see each other across Morecambe Bay, but they are close enough and spent a good while schlepping round non-league together, developing a healthy mutual disregard.

All of which makes for some great mischief-making opportunities.

At first glance, Fleetwood midfielder Mark Helm’s moody pose looks like a standard kit launch photo. But what is he standing on?

Zoom in and you can see, handwritten on the ball, the initials BAFC.

The battle for supremacy in the supermarket world is always fierce, so they sensibly welcome customers from everywhere. Although Aldi perhaps took that to extremes when it popped up checkout signs in Welsh.

And what was wrong with that?

Well, the store in question was in Cowes – on the Isle of Wight. It would not have been so bad if it had been in Newport.

The supermarket said it was an “honest mistake” and hastily removed them.

Cricketer Ashley Giles collected 54 test caps and appeared in 62 one-day internationals for England, earning the bowler the nickname King of Spin.

Never slow (arm) to miss an opportunity, his county side Warwickshire ordered in a load of souvenir mugs to celebrate their star, and grateful members appreciated the chance to take tea from a receptacle proudly proclaiming Giles… King of Spain.

The nickname has stuck to this day and prompted the unexpected sight of Spanish flags at test venues around the country.

Rumours of Juan Carlos basking in the Edgbaston sun before strolling in from the City End did not go down well in Madrid.

• Read about Giles’ crowning glory and more sporting typos here

Up for some quickfire bungles? Here you go:

• David Cameron, best known as the nephew of former Aston Villa chairman Sir William Dugdale, made a valiant attempt to extend his claret and true blue appeal.
• One L of a gaffe here, but if you are going to get it wrong, go big or go home. Assuming you can spell your home of course. Isn’t that right Carlise?
• Was “casual indifference” or magnificent muppetry the cause of Yorkshire Water turning to Russia and Herefordshire to promote itself?
• And there was the time 100 litres of red paint was given away following outrage at plans to paint Portsmouth’s Spinnaker Tower in the colours of its rival city Southampton.

And to finish, back to the start line and the Great North Run medal mishap.

Organisers apologised and admitted they made a mistake. Sir Brendan Foster also said he had missed it, confessing: “I’ve lived on the River Tyne my whole life and I should’ve noticed.”

The people trying to flog the “error collectables” are probably glad he didn’t.