‘Grassed up’ - Newcastle United parents get school letter after kid spotted on Sky Sports in Dortmund

The parents of a young Newcastle United fan got a bit of a telling off from their child’s school, after she was spotted on television at Borussia Dortmund rather than in lessons.

The embarrassed parent took to social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, to jokingly blame Sky Sports presenter Keith Downie for including live coverage of their child during the pre-match coverage of the UEFA Champions League match between Newcastle United and Dortmund on Tuesday, November 7.

An estimated 20,000 Geordies descended on Dortmund’s Alter Markt this week, many thousands without actual tickets for the game, to celebrate Newcastle being back on the European stage.

The account @buzza1331, uploaded a post which read: “Alreet @SkySports_Keith, Well your live coverage in the markt square at dortmund yesterday, got us grassed up at the bairns school. Keegan knew soon as she seen us, the sickness bug she rang them up about wasn’t gonna stand up”, alongside three laughing emojis. 

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The post included a screenshot of an email from the school, which read: “Hi Keegan. Just to let you know that Bessie’s absence from Monday 6.11.23 will now be marked as unauthorised. This is due to media footage and news articles showing her away in Germany at a football match. Please contact us at the school if you wish to discuss this further.”

The post racked up 473.3k views, as well as 2.5k likes. 

Keith Downie replied to the original poster, to apologise but also praise the child in question.

He wrote: “Ahh I’m sorry about that. But if it’s any help, both kids were amazing & I picked them out specifically because they spoke so well & intelligently on camera.”

The parent responded: “Haha no need to apologise, I was well aware it was gonna happen at the time. Whether it’s authorised or unauthorised doesn’t matter to us and the email just topped a belting trip off and gave everyone another laugh, I don’t think there was any maliciousness in it from….”

Fellow Newcastle United fans took to the comments, to give their opinion on the matter, with many saying the match should be classed as “an educational trip”.