The tone "was set before England had kicked a ball in Russia," according to Martin Belam of the London GUARDIAN. When singer Robbie Williams "flashed an obscene gesture at the camera during the opening ceremony," England defender Kyle Walker "was on to Twitter, teasing teammate and friend Dele Alli over the latter’s suspension for making a similar gesture" during a World Cup qualifier. And by the time England defeated Colombia after the "once-dreaded penalty shootout," there was "no doubt that the England squad had fully embraced the memes and social media jokes" surrounding its campaign. Jesse Lingard "posted a picture of himself on the pitch in Moscow, phone clutched to his ear, with a caption playing on the lyric of Three Lions," saying, "No mum, I’m not coming home. It’s..." Lingard followed that up after his team's victory over Sweden with a "brief video clip of him embracing his mum at the Samara Arena," saying, "Because I said we ain’t going home, she came here." Just as performances on the pitch "have been a cut above," the team’s social media presence "has been a step up from the stilted approach of previous tournaments." Many of England’s players "have benefitted from training provided by the FA." Consultant Sue Llewelyn gave many of them social media training when they were part of England’s U17, U19 and U21 setups. She said, "I was really impressed with what they were like as people. I’m not a huge football fan -- or wasn't -- and I thought maybe they are going to be awful ‘lads,' but they weren’t at all. All of them were absolutely charming, and really nice about their mums, talking about being humble." With the training, Llewelyn said that the FA "wanted players to be aware not just of what you can get wrong but also how you can be much more proactive and interactive and build up your team." Naturally, part of the training for elite athletes "is about what not to do." Llewelyn said that for footballers, "the biggest risk with their social media profiles" is posting "stupid banter" (GUARDIAN, 7/8).
