Premier League accused of 'bullying' 101 Great Goals website after Twitter removes posts

The website catalogues football video content from around the internet

Liverpool's Luis Suarez (Getty Images)

Football website 101 Great Goals has accused the Premier League of bullying after a number of their posts were removed from Twitter after a complaint.

The 101 Great Goals website is a source of football news and video content - on which Premier League highlights, which are strictly controlled, can be found.

Tweets which linked to some of this video content were removed by Twitter earlier this week following a complaint from the Premier League via their lawyers NetResult in which it was claimed: "The Twitter account in question is linking to unauthorised Premier League footage."

101 Great Goals has responded in a blog post by outlining their stance in the interests of "complete transparency".  While admitting they have had a "fair few run-ins with the Premier League" they claim to have done nothing wrong as their website only locates existing videos available online and links to them.

They point out that the videos tend to come from YouTube or DailyMotion, and if the videos are removed from those websites, they are also removed from 101 Great Goals. It's also pointed out that "literally thousands" of Twitter accounts link to this content.

That 101 Great Goals feel they have been singled out has led them to accuse the Premier League of "bullying".

When contacted, a Premier League spokesman said: “We will continue to use all appropriate means to protect our intellectual property. There are legitimate ways in which fans can watch clips of Barclays Premier League goals and action, and we would encourage them to do so.”