Trending on Twitter: Sports, tech and the Manchester Police

With everything that’s going on around the world, it is always difficult to predict what people are talking, thinking and tweeting about. But there are some basic truths you can rely on, and one of them is this: Wherever people gather, the talk will eventually turn to sports.

What The Trend, a Twitter aggregator that positions itself as “the front page of the real time web”, has released its findings for the most popular topics being spoken about on Twitter, and it’s a week dominated by sports from both sides of the Atlantic, as well as an interesting experiment conducted by the Manchester police, and discussion on the latest products from Apple.

Read on to see the full list of the week’s Twitter trends.

1. SOCCER/FOOTBALL: Top trends this week centered around Wayne Rooney and just how unhappy he is at Manchester United, and the UEFA Europa League, which is now halfway through the group stage with many groups still quite close.

2. COMMONWEALTH GAMES: After a rocky start, the Commonwealth Games concluded in India, with badminton player Saina Nehwal capturing the most discussion.

3. CHILEAN MINING RESCUE: The Chilean Miners were all rescued safely, with people celebrating the completion of the monumental undertaking and admiring the success of the rescue operation.

4. MANCHESTER POLICE: Greater Manchester Police tweeted every 999 call in 24 hours in a bid to stave off budget cuts.

5. MLB: In the world of baseball, people tweeted about Cliff Lee, pitcher for the Texas Rangers. Although he’s good, the main reason Yankees want to see him is it meant they made it through game 6 of the ALCS. Additionally, the Chicago Cubs Tuesday decided to bypass some big name candidates and promote their interim manager, Mike Quade.

6. APPLE: At a “Back to the Mac” event this week, Apple revealed a refresh of iLife ’11, the revelation of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and brand new MacBook Airs.

7. NFL: Two completely unrelated items dominated football tweets: Junior Seau, a former NFL player, drove his vehicle off a cliff after being arrested on suspicion of assault. He was later released from the hospital with minor injuries. The Miami Dolphins won over the Green bay Packers in a surprise upset.

8. #thatwouldbeawesome: People are explaining what would be awesome in their lives.

9. BRAZIL POLITICS: The Dutch Christian Democrats (CDA) formed a coalition with the Dutch Liberals (VVD) with formal support of the Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) in an effort to form a minority government.

10. SUPER JUNIOR: Band member Lee Dong-hae just celebrated his birthday, Oct. 15. #HAEppybirthday was the hashtag du jour.