Jermain Defoe’s moving farewell message to Bradley Lowery is the most popular sports tweet of 2017 in the UK, Twitter has confirmed.
Six-year-old Bradley passed away in July after battling neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer. A supporter of Sunderland, the close friendship he struck up with Defoe captured the hearts of millions.
Defoe’s tweet included a lengthy, heartfelt message to Bradley and several pictures of the pair together.
Sleep tight little one… 💙 pic.twitter.com/iGqLXdvlVi
— Jermain Defoe OBE (@IAmJermainDefoe) July 8, 2017
Twitter released details of its top 10 Sports Tweets of 2017 – ranked in accordance with how many retweets they had received from UK users – on Tuesday morning.
The rest of the top 10 is as follows:
2) Andy Johnson’s pledge in response to the news of Aaron Lennon’s mental health issues
https://twitter.com/AndyJohnson08/status/859714803618779136
3) Peter Crouch poking fun at his own expense while meeting a couple of giraffes
Summer for me is about time with family . pic.twitter.com/dtft1CZoyl
— Peter Crouch (@petercrouch) June 19, 2017
4) Wayne Rooney reflecting on his goalscoring return to Manchester with Everton
Always nice to see a few familiar faces 😂👋🏼 pic.twitter.com/pr15fYfG7q
— Wayne Rooney (@WayneRooney) August 21, 2017
5) Anthony Joshua (with help from Shaggy) defends himself against accusations from Amir Khan
— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyjoshua) August 4, 2017
6) Conor McGregor confirms he will fight Floyd Mayweather
THE FIGHT IS ON. pic.twitter.com/KhW0u3jRft
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) June 14, 2017
7) Former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso confirms he will retire at the end of the 2016/17 season
Lived it. Loved it.
Farewell beautiful game. pic.twitter.com/1aSN7GGNzZ
— Xabi Alonso (@XabiAlonso) March 9, 2017
8) This…
I was trying to hit the bucket of drinks and make them go all over my Mum for the intro of a video we're making but……… pic.twitter.com/f2K4rqtDTf
— Harry (@wroetoshaw) May 13, 2017
9) Gary Lineker’s response to the news Claudio Ranieri had been sacked as Leicester boss
After all that Claudio Ranieri has done for Leicester City, to sack him now is inexplicable, unforgivable and gut-wrenchingly sad.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) February 23, 2017
10) Everton’s Yannick Bolasie, the night Arsenal lost 3-0 to his former club, Crystal Palace
Arsenal fan tv 📺 for me tonight 👀🍿
— Yannick Bolasie (@YannickBolasie) April 10, 2017
