PSNI poke fun at England World Cup failure to 'bring football home'

PSNI Lisburn published a post on Facebook on Thursday morning expressing their concern for "welfare of football"

"Police are becoming increasingly concerned for the welfare of football and are seeking any information as to its current whereabouts," read the Facebook post.

"Football was believed to have been coming home from Russia on 11/07/18 but never arrived," they joked.

"It is believed football may currently have re-routed to France after 15/07/18 and was last seen with a Kylian Mbappe [France international].

"If you have any current information as to its location please contact Constable Southgate sometime before 2022 - #SorryItsLateIveBeenOff #GreatWorldCup."

Gareth Southgate's England team crashed out of the World Cup in the semi-finals when they were defeated in extra time by Croatia.

Some people criticised the PSNI by asking them if they had "nothing better to do" but many others said it was funny and entertaining.

"Posts like these take maybe three minutes but hugely increase the public's ability to relate to the police, are likely to be shared and make people laugh," wrote one woman.

"The consequence being that the public are more likely to approach the police for help when needed (the relatability [sic] thing), are more likely to respond to requests in Facebook for help in solving crime (the sharing), and more likely to view the police in a positive light (the humour).

"So, an EXCELLENT use of police time, I'd have thought," added the woman.