#PieGate

Overview

#PieGate refers to a controversy in which former Sutton United Football Club reserve goalkeeper Wayne Shaw ate a meat pie on live television in late February 2017. After it was discovered that he had knowledge about a bet regarding the incident, Shaw resigned as goalkeeper for breaking Football Association gambling regulations.

Background

On February 20th, 2017, the @SunBets^[6] Twitter feed tweeted a photo of Shaw next to a meat pie captioned with 8 to 1 odds against him eating the food live on the air (shown below).

That evening, Shaw was filmed eating a meat pie at the touchline toward the end of football game at the Gander Green Lane stadium in London, England (shown below).

Developments

Following the incident, Shaw admitted to reporters that he knew a betting company was offering 8-1 odds against a bet that he would eat a pie on a bench during the football game, claiming he pulled the stunt to give fans "a bit of banter."

"A few of the lads said to me earlier on: ‘What is going on with the 8-1 about eating a pie?’ I said: ‘I don’t know, I’ve eaten nothing all day, so I might give it a go later on.’ Sun Bets had us at 8-1 to eat a pie. I thought I would give them a bit of banter and let’s do it. All the subs were on and we were 2-0 down. I went and got it at half time from the kitchen, I had it all prepared and ready to go. It was meat and potato"

The following day, Shaw resigned from Sutton United after being informed that his actions broke Football Association gambling regulations.

On Twitter

On February 21st, television host Piers Morgan tweeted a photograph of himself with Shaw, referring to his dismissal as "absurd" (shown below). Within six hours, the tweet gained over 4,300 likes and 1,700 retweets.^[1]

That day, many Twitter users tweeted about the incident along with the hashtag #PieGate^[2] (shown below).

News Media Coverage

In the coming days, several news sites reported on the controversy, including The Guardian,^[3] The Huffington Post^[4] and The Mirror.^[5]

Search Interest

Not available.

External References