The family of young Sunderland supporter, Bradley Lowery, insist that they are not offended by the banner that was flown over the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
Below is an image of the controversial banner - which some of you may find offensive - that appeared over the ground during Sunderland's clash with Swansea.
https://twitter.com/rossgregory9/status/863398652198486016
"United by cancer, divided by leagues," the banner reads.
The first half of the message is an admirable one as it suggests that both north-east rivals, Newcastle and Sunderland fans, could put their problems to one side as cancer is a far more important issue than football but those responsible for the banner really let themselves down by the second half as they decided to use the last three words to take a completely unnecessary dig at the recently relegated Sunderland.
It was understandably slammed on social media.
https://twitter.com/GlassBack82/status/863405665171144705
https://twitter.com/Skirgey/status/863404901199728642
https://twitter.com/mark_nufc87/status/863404823714168833
The banner was organised by Newcastle fan Darren Curry, according to
ChronicleLive, and its goal was to raise awareness of and offer support to Bradley Lowery, Hope Feeney and Frankie Sherwood - three young football fans who are suffering from childhood cancer neuroblastoma.
But as controversial as it might be, the family of Bradley Lowery sees no problem with its message.
"So it appears there has been a lot of controversy about the banner that is getting flown over the SOL today," a statement from the family's Facebook page read.
"I would just like to say we don’t feel the banner is offensive or insensitive, I can understand why some people feel it is not appropriate.
"However the only thing we thought of when we heard about the banner is it was very thoughtful of people to want to raise awareness and raise funds for Bradley, Frankie and Hope."
The banner that was on display inside the ground was, thankfully, much more tasteful.
