England manager Roy Hodgson apologises for the 'monkey' joke made at half-time against Poland

England manager Roy Hodgson pictured during a press conference in London

England boss Roy Hodgson has apologized for using questionable language during his half time briefing in his teams 2-0 thumping of Poland in the World Cup qualifier on Tuesday, ESPN reports.

The 66-year-old cracked a joke that had links to the space battle in the earlier part of the century in order to tell his team to pass the ball to Andros Townsend, who gave Poland a hard time.

According to tabloids The Sun and The Daily Mirror, Hodgson used a phrase in the joke that said “feed the monkey”. The joke was not intended to harm any sentiments but simply said that NASA had given more importance to the monkey than the astronaut.

Both the papers published different versions of the joke. According to the Daily Mirror the joke is:

“NASA decided they’d finally send a man up in a capsule after sending only monkeys in the earlier missions. “They fire the man and the monkey into space. “The intercom crackles, ‘Monkey, fire the retros’. “A little later, ‘Monkey, check the solid fuel supply’. “Later still, ‘Monkey, check the life support systems for the man’. “The astronaut takes umbrage and radioes NASA, ‘When do I get to do something?’ “NASA replies, ‘In 15 minutes – feed the monkey’.”

England and Tottenham winger Andros Townsend was said to be hurt by the joke.

“I would like to apologise if any offence has been caused by what I said at half-time,” Hodgson said. “There was absolutely no intention on my part to say anything inappropriate. I made this clear straight away to Andros in the dressing room.

“I also spoke to Andros again on Wednesday. He has assured me and the FA he did not take any offence, and understood the point I was making in the manner I intended,” he said.