It happened last week when Nadine Dorries, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, gave a speech at a rugby league event and upset her hosts by confusing the 13-player game with the rival union code.

Speaking in St Helens - the heartland of the sport - at the launch of a report into the social impact of the upcoming Rugby League World Cup in England, Dorries opened her address with a reference to Jonny Wilkinson’s match-winning drop goal for England in union’s 2003 Rugby World Cup.

"I’ve always quite liked the idea of rugby league," she told the audience. 

"My long-standing memory is that 2003 drop goal. I’ll let you into a secret. I think we were drinking bloody marys at the time. It was 11 o’clock in the morning but wow what a moment that was."

The predictable reaction led to Dorries tweeting on the matter. 

She stated: "Like Jason Robinson I may have switched codes in my speech … Both league & union have a rich heritage in the UK. Obviously I’ve followed rugby league much less in my lifetime, but I’m looking forward to watching England (& all the home nations) in the RL World Cup this autumn."

Dorries has since been eclipsed by other matters as she has become Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s biggest and most public supporter as his Government collapsed, forcing him to resign.

Although from the other side of the political divide, Richard Caborn probably had some sympathy for Dorries after his own experience upon his appointment as Sports Minister in 2001 when he was ridiculed for his utter failure to answer five simple questions put to him by Clare Balding in a live BBC radio interview.

The new Sports Minister was forced to admit he had no idea that England rugby (union) captain Martin Johnson was, that same weekend, leading the Lions on tour in Australia. 

He could not think of one European golfer beyond Colin Montgomerie, and his inability to name a single jockey at Royal Ascot that week sounded even more damning when - as the Minister responsible for racing and gambling - Caborn admitted: "I know nothing about horse racing."

The national media was in uproar. "Is This The Most Stupid Sports Minister Ever?" screamed the Daily Mirror. 

The Daily Mail, meanwhile, set their readers a sports quiz headlined "Now See If You're Ignorant Enough To Get The Job."

Caborn actually proved to be one of the more effective politicians to have held the Sports Minister role. 

He held the position until 2007 stepping down shortly after London had been awarded the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

There was little flashy about what Caborn did, but he did it effectively, understood how the system worked and had the connections to often make it happen.

I had my run-ins with Caborn, most notably when the Government refused to underwrite the costs of London hosting the 2005 World Athletics Championships and he was part of a scheme to try to move the event to Sheffield, his home constituency.

But I would go as far to say that Caborn was among the best Sports Ministers I worked with. 

In fact, on one occasion I wrote an article in The Guardian commending him on the work that Caborn was doing, particularly on London’s Olympic bid, and urged the Prime Minister Tony Blair to keep him in the post until at least after the vote.

The morning the article appeared I was woken by my mobile phone with Caborn on the other end. "Effing hell Duncan, have I died and gone to heaven - your piece sounds like my effing obituary!" I took it to mean that he was pleased with the piece.

Those of a certain vintage will never have it that there was a better Sports Minister than Denis Howell, the first politician to hold the post in the UK. 

A former top-level referee, he was appointed by Prime Minister Harold Wilson in 1964 and was responsible for some of the organisation for the 1966 World Cup held in England.

Howell returned for a second spell as Sports Minister in 1974 when Labour regained power from the Conservatives. 

In 1976, he was given an additional role when, during Britain's driest summer in over 200 years, he was made Minister for Drought - but nicknamed "Minister for Rain".

Howell was charged by the new Prime Minister James Callaghan with the task of persuading the nation to use less water - and was even ordered by Number 10 to do a rain dance on behalf of the nation.

Howell responded by inviting reporters to his home in Birmingham, where he revealed he was doing his bit to help water rationing by sharing baths with his wife, Brenda. 

Days later, heavy rainfall caused widespread flooding, and he was made Minister of Floods.

The likes of Caborn and Howell and Sir Hugh Robertson, who served as Sports Minister under Prime Minister David Cameron during London 2012, stand out for their ability to influence sport in the UK.

Most of the other politicians to have held the job have been non-entities, who have been happy enough to accept an invitation to sit in the Royal Box at Wimbledon but have had zero effect on the area they are supposed to be overseeing.

Over the years the most effective Sports Ministers have been those who know how to make the Whitehall machinery work for the sector - not those who "know and love sport."

Two cases spring to mind: Tony Banks and his successor Kate Hoey.

No-one was more surprised than the left-wing Banks when he was appointed as Sports Minister by Blair shortly after he swept New Labour to a landslide election victory in 1997. 

A high-profile supporter of Chelsea and self-confessed sports nut, few doubted Banks’ knowledge of his subject.

All he managed to achieve was being ridiculed after calling for foreign players in the English Premiership to become eligible to play for England: "Can you imagine seeing [Eric] Cantona and [Ryan] Giggs swapping the Red of Manchester for the White of England?"

He was prescient, though, when he suggested that the football teams of the four constituent parts of the UK should merge to compete in the Olympic Games as eventually occurred at London 2012. 

However, his calling for one UK football team in 1997 was met with anger from supporters and one colleague, the Scottish Labour Member of Parliament Sam Galbraith, stated that the creation of such a team would only happen "over his dead body".

Banks also offended Scotland's supporters by describing the team as the "West Ham of world football - they never quite perform to their potential."

Few appeared better qualified to be Sports Minister than Hoey. 

She was the 1966 Northern Ireland high jump champion and had worked for football clubs including Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers, Chelsea and Brentford as an educational advisor.

But her reign was over effectively before it begun when on her first day in 1999, she accused Manchester United of treating their fans "shabbily" by pulling out of the FA Cup to take part in the FIFA World Club Championship in Brazil.

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, a man with impeccable political connections, rung Blair to complain about the remark and Hoey’s card was marked, although she did manage to survive until 2001.

Politicians have thick skins, however, and Nadine Dorries has tried to turn her rugby league gaffe into a positive, claiming it has boosted the profile of the sport.

"Last week I was lucky enough to attend an event celebrating the upcoming Rugby League World Cup," she told Parliament this week.

"I know the Speaker [Sir Lindsay Hoyle] is a huge fan of the sport.

"I know that, while I don’t share his detailed expertise, I know that he will be delighted that rugby league’s execs have told me, and Mr Speaker as well, I believe, that rugby league has never had so much publicity and so much attention for the game.

"And so, all I can say, Mr Speaker, is you are welcome."