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Lote Tuqiri has done it 869 times and Cadel Evans has got 23,525 people watching him do it. Andrew Bogut can’t do it enough, Brad Fittler stopped doing it since he was sacked and Phil Hughes got into strife over it.
It is twittering, a rapidly growing practice among athletes across all sports that is causing anxiety among sports administrators.
Some of the biggest names in Australian sport are being lured to Twitter, partly as a means of bypassing traditional media to get their opinions, comments and musings across direct to the public.
Sacked Wallaby Tuqiri has been one of Australian sport’s most prominent tweeters.
With a lot of spare time on his hands he has kept his tweeps (followers) informed about everything from the “bloody nail in my front tyre” to his theories around Phil Waugh’s omission from the Australian squad.
When the ARU terminated his contract in July, Tuqiri took to Twitter, immediately writing “abit (sic) shocked and surprised at the moment.”
Tuqiri has also utilised Twitter to respond to media speculation surrounding his playing future.
In August he wrote “No I havn’t (sic) signed for a French club, as i’ve stated i was always checking out all options. so this is the process i’m going through.”
Tuqiri has been free to tweet without without controversy or backlash as he’s yet to sign on with a new sporting employer.
Others have not had the luxury.
Precocious Test opener Phil Hughes was slammed for leaking team information through Twitter before the third Ashes Test.
Hughes tweeted “Disappointed not to be on the field with the lads today” three hours before the start of play and before the news that he’d been dropped had been officially released.
Captain Ricky Ponting was fuming, coach Tim Nielsen was struggling to understand how Twitter worked and Hughes manager owned up to sending the tweet, blaming time differences for breaking the news early.
Philip Pope from Cricket Australia said in CA’s view, comment on Twitter comes under their public comment policy which forms part of every player’s contract.
“The commonsense approach is that you don’t hand a competitive advantage to your competitors in advance of any game by giving information out regarding selection, injury or tactics that isn’t already part of the published discussion emanating from the team,” he said.
“Clearly it is not advisable to be announcing team news on a social network site before it has been announced by the team itself.”
Popesaid public comment through Twitter now forms part of CA’s annual discussion with their 25 contracted players.
But it’s something being addressed by all sports.
Sport and online media expert, Professor David Rowe said there was growing anxiety among sports clubs about their players making comment outside of the formal media mechanisms established for them.
“There is a bit of concern there about whether they give away any trade secrets about tactics,” he said.
“There is some concern that information may be given that might be useful to people who are involved with betting scams.
“There is also the possibility they may break the party line, but there’s also that possibility when the microphone may be stuck in their face. So it’s just the extension of those possibilities.”
The NBA recently banned the use of Twitter among coaches and players from 45 minutes before game time until players have finished their post-game responsibilities.
The Tennis Integrity Unit at the US Open also issued Twitter notices warning players’ tweets could violate the sport’s anti-corruption rules.
Director of NRL media and communications John Brady said they expect their players to understand tweets are public comment and they have a responsibility not to bring the game into disrepute.
“The only problems we’ve had are with people who somehow think Twitter is different from a public comment in a newspaper,” he said.
“Of course the fact is they end up in the same place which is the public domain.”
Patrick Keane from the AFL said clubs educate their players on their public responsibilities and there were cases of players being requested to be “a bit more temperate with their comments”.
“AFL players, when they log onto any such sites as Twitter, they’re primarily responsible for how they present themselves and beyond that their club and the competition.”
AFL-bound Karmichael Hunt could take note with tweets like “thanks braa! Wats doing? Loose?” to Gold Coast Titans winger Chris Walker and “Mad Monday….. A footballers Xmas party. Yeeewh!”
Especially on the back of the NRL’s horror year with off-field issues.
Professor Rowe says as the Twittersphere grows, controversial tweets will inevitably be made and players will find themselves in trouble.
He said when players are granted a reprieve from tight media control, they will be at risk of slipping up and “saying something that brings the game or the club into disrepute.”
No wonder sports administrators are worried.
As Tuqiri tweeted to Hunt “you boys get wrapped over the knuckles for your twittering? Whatsdoing?”
SOME OF THE MOST FOLLOWED AUSTRALIAN SPORT STARS ON TWITTER
List under name, sport, username, followers
Robbie McEwen – cycling – (@mcewenrobbie) – 26,995
Cadel Evans – cycling – (@CadelOfficial) – 23,525
Andrew Bogut – basketball – (@AndrewMBogut) – 11,546
Phil Hughes – cricket – (@PH408) – 9,706
Mick Fanning – surfing – (@Mick_Fanning) – 9,108
Joel Parkinson – surfing -(@joelparko) – 6,686
Patty Mills – basketball – (@Patty_Mills) – 4,309
Jobe Watson – AFL – (@JobeWatson) – 3,034
Lote Tuqiri – rugby union – (@LoteTuqiri) – 2,466
Harry O’Brien – AFL – (Harry_O) – 1,886
Karmichael Hunt – rugby league/AFL (@karmichaelhunt) -1,379
Mat Rogers – rugby league – (@mat_rogers6) – 1,184
Jamie Whincup – motor racing – (@jamiewhincup) – 1,150
Jarryd Hayne – rugby league -(@jarryd_hayne) – 800
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