Dee Ford: US football fans abuse English woman after confusing her for Kansas linebacker

'He certainly doesn’t deserve the comments I received. I’m honestly glad that he didn’t get to see them,' Ms Ford tells The Independent

(Getty Images)

An English woman has received hundreds of “hostile and aggressive” messages on Twitter after an American football player who shares her name cost his team the AFC championship.

Denise Ford was fast asleep when the Kansas City Chiefs lost to the New England Patriots and missed out on progressing through to the Super Bowl due to a late penalty by her namesake, linebacker Dee Ford on Sunday night.

Ms Ford was surprised to wake up the following morning to hundreds of angry messages on her Twitter account from Kansas City Chiefs fans.

One read “you ruined my whole year” and “how do you [expletive] sleep at night?”

Ms Ford told The Independent: “Swear words that turn the air blue, people claiming I’d ruined their lives...wishing that I had an awful life."

She responded to many of the messages, cracking jokes with the frustrated fans.

“I just think it’s very cowardly to not man up and admit you [expletive] up. Would be in the super bowl had you not jumped offsides,” one fan wrote.

She replied: “Well, there you go. We all make mistakes. Mine was sleeping on the job. Literally."

Ms Ford said: “It’s easy to take the mickey out of someone who is so frustrated that they can’t be bothered to check who they’re tweeting."

She added that while she found the case of mistaken identity rather entertaining and cracked jokes in response to the messages, she was also “very sad that anyone thinks it’s ok to send a young man with immense talent such abuse.”

It is not the first time Ms Ford has received messages on social media meant for her American namesake.

She became aware that they shared a name five years ago when the athletic director at Auburn University in Alabama sent her a congratulatory tweet.

Denise Ford received hundreds of “hostile and aggressive” messages after angry fans mistook her for American linebacker Dee Ford (Denise Ford)

The pair met several years ago when Ms Ford went to watch the Kansas City Chiefs playing at Wembley Stadium.

“I met his family and he called on the phone, so we had a chat. He’s a great young man, I’ve got nothing but good things to say about him,” she said. “He certainly doesn’t deserve the comments I received. I’m honestly glad that he didn’t get to see them."