Claire Reid
American author John Green has left social media users baffled after sharing the unusual reason he sponsors a UK football team.
Green - who has written a slew of popular books, including The Fault in Our Stars - took to TikTok to ‘name something stupid that [he] spends entirely too much money on.'
In the clip, Green explains that he gives sponsorship money to his favourite ‘soccer team’, AFC Wimbledon. Nice gesture, but it’s called football, mate.
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He revealed: “I pay the soccer team I love - AFC Wimbledon - to put my logo on the back of the shorts on their uniforms, so that I can see that logo when I play as AFC Wimbledon in the video game FIFA.”
Listen, there’s absolutely nothing ‘stupid’ about that at all, OK, John?
Of course, as well as getting to have his branding splashed across their kits, Green went on to say that the money also goes some way to stop them getting relegated by helping pay for players.
However, he stressed: “But mostly so that I can see my logo when I play the video game.”
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As you can imagine, Green’s revelation has left Brits reeling with one person commenting: “EXTREMELY valid use of money and it's now my life goal.”
Another said: “This has got to be the most baller purchase I’ve ever heard of.”
A third wrote: “If I had a bunch of money I would DELIGHT in doing something silly and fun with it like this.”
While someone else commented: “I’m so here for this. This is the kind of ‘kid with adult money’ purchase we all strive to achieve.”
“Loving AFC Wimbledon is the maddest part about this,” a fellow TikTok user added.
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In an interview with the Los Angeles Times last year, Green said he’d been a football fan for decades.
“I loved it when I was in high school. I was by far the biggest fan of my high school soccer team,” Green said.
“I just love the game. I’ve always thought it was beautiful and very metaphorically resonant for me.”
Perhaps because he’s a famous author and has a way with words, he then somewhat beautifully added: “Football is the kind of theater where the audience doesn’t know the script and neither do the players.”
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The football-loving author recently popped up in an episode of Welcome to Wrexham where Wrexham FC owner Ryan Reynolds told him: “Of all the unimportant things in life, football is the most important.”
To which Green wittily fire back: “I stole it from Pope John Paul II!”