Nick Riewoldt of St Kilda looks on with disappointment. Slattery Images
So social media has humbled more Australian athletes. This time it’s St Kilda Saints trio Nick Dal Santo, Nick Riewoldt and Zac Dawson who were caught with their pants down; exposed for the world to see on Facebook, Twitter and undoubtedly hundreds of emails.
Seemingly the victims of a former “friend”, allegedly the same lady who made a complaint against two St Kilda players after claiming she became pregnant by a player she met during a school visit, the lewd photos swept Twitter and Facebook, leaving nothing to the imagination.
The photos were eventually taken offline and the lady’s Facebook account deleted by court order. But the damage was done. Such is the instantaneous nature of the Internet and social media that the photos spread like wildfire, and undoubtedly still linger in some dark corners of the web.
Undoubtedly embarrassed and ashamed by the photos, the players do, ultimately, have only themselves to blame. Having seen the photos, they seemed more than obliging to whoever was taking the photos, despite the full view they offered.
So ignoring the breach of privacy by whoever put those photos online, the players should surely know that as public personas, such photos could be used in some type of witch-hunt or revenge – fuelled through social media and jumped on by an Australian media who increasingly relies on such tabloid scandal to drive its own business.
Their failure to grasp this notion, and putting themselves in those positions with cameras present, is quite astonishing. Like former Canberra Raiders player Joel Monaghan and the poor canine he sullied, the presence of cameras recording such a lewd act should immediately set alarm bells ringing – even if their moral code and basic decency doesn’t.
What’s ironic here is how quickly athletes have embraced social media, yet so many of them fail to grasp its immediacy and reach.
Only recently we had Shane Warne openly flirting with model/actress Liz Hurley on Twitter for all their followers to see, only to be caught in the act and suffering the inevitable consequences of exposing their personal lives to the world. Having exposed so much of their private lives for everyone to see, can they genuinely be shocked when the media catches them out?
With their Twitter and Facebook fan pages updated directly from their phones, computers and iPads, a line of communication has been opened to fans which is, in most cases, completely uncensored by their minders, managers, agents and public relation representatives.
Social media has become their preferred method to interact with their fans by sharing their views (and photos) on whatever they feel like. Yet this exposes their personalities, for better or worse, in a manner unaccustomed to fans, who only see the refined “performer” on television.
You wouldn’t hear Stephanie Rice’s anti-gay slur in a press conference, that’s for certain.
So fans can see into athletes’ lives through the small window called social media; how they interact with people, the amount of time they have free away from their work and how they fill it, and their interests (through who the athlete follow and what they tweet about). Sometimes that window shows a very superficial and one-dimensional picture.
Blame it on Generation Y and their reliance on social media for human interaction, but so much of my generations’ lives are dependant on communication through a keyboard, sadly, and athletes are no different. This leads to stunted emotional growth, with selfish and attention seeking traits fostering in lives devoid of real human contact and superficial relationships.
The exposed Dal Santo openly spoke about how footballers and his generation use Facebook as a dating tool on Channel 9’s “The Footy Show” earlier this year, much to the bemusement of the “old school” Sam Newman. Some athletes even tweet from home on their iPhones and Blackberrys with the location settings on, so followers (and potential squeezes) can see where they are based.
If athletes choose to court such attention that is their business, but they must surely realise they are opening themselves up to public humiliation.
Sports stars’ behaviour will once again come into focus as this latest scandal plays out, with more photos involving more players set to hit the Internet, according to the publisher of the photos that did the rounds yesterday.
But the key point here is that leagues and clubs cannot act as full-time guardians for the thousands of professional athletes with so much free time, disposable income, and the overwhelming temptation to take advantage of their lot in life. And this combination is the reason why they appear to lead lives of superficiality and excess. Who wouldn’t in those circumstances?
What they do in the privacy of their own lives is their own choice.
As long as they are not breaking any laws then they are well within their rights to live as they wish (although you would hope they live to some form of moral code). But unless they do so with some discretion, they will continue to be exposed in such a manner – with only themselves to blame for failing to grasp this concept and living through their digital/computerised obsession.
Time to grow up and leave the lewd acts for behind closed doors, with cameras, Twitter and Facebook turned off.
westie
Guest
Seriously!
westie
Guest
And why exactly was this muck raked up again?
Jane
Guest
"Social media exposes athletes for who they really are"... Human. Prone to errors of judgement like the rest of us "mere mortals" but understandably held to a higher standard. Thankfully, the public are generally smart enough to know right behaviour from wrong and recognise good role models from bad.
me too
Guest
what a bunch of holier than thou hypocritical hogwash- the blogger and most repliers. what 'lewd' act? posing naked with mates? i would suggest you are all a bunch of victorian era prudes. not so long ago male celebrities posed naked in cleo - no outcry from the media or public. those were healthier times. and times when the media had a bit more commonsense. now the 'reality talk show' syndrome has taken over our media. pathetic little none events are sensationalised to whip up an uproar and attract readership. as for the girl involved - i think your eyes are hopefully that little bit more open now. there are far more important things to write about and far worse behaviours to condemn. but enjoy your small minded and bitter arrogance. if the media had simply seen it as what it was and ignored the non-story the girl would not have continued down her awkward spiral of media spotlight addiction. but the media care not for her welfare - they se her purely as a sales strategy.
ian
Guest
Redb, Maybe you believe in Santa Clause and the tooth Fairy, maybe you also believe in aliens and that one came down and took your brain. That I would also believe.
chris
Guest
i just want to put up a smiley face :)
Mahony
Guest
The bottom line here is that the world has changed. The public faces of Australian culture (sporting or otherwise) have to take ‘the good with the bad' in this respect. If new media can be used to build them it can be used to destroy them also. I agree with the article. It is time for those who benefit the most from celebrity culture to take some responsibility for its damaging effects. As to the media and community treatment of this young woman - as a person professional interested in adolescent development, it is clear to me our society has a lot to learn about their fragility and their tortured relationship with identity and sexuality. Despite her appalling behaviour (i.e. that which she has demonstrated – as opposed to that of she is simply accused of) this young woman required the support of her community - not the public flogging she ultimately received. People say to me how would you feel if your daughter behaved this way - to which I answer - I would feel I had let her down terribly.....
Parkridge Panther
Guest
Enough of this, thank you - Roar Mods.
amazonfan
Roar Guru
No more - thanks, Roar Mods.
alxtric
Guest
How drunk do you have to be to do something like that if it isn't already in your character? These people cannot blame alcohol on this. They are just boofheads with no sense off decency. Agree totally with the article.
amazonfan
Roar Guru
"Is that right." Yes, it is. "I feel you need to grow up and also read the posts where I have directly debated this subject with" No, it's you who needs to grow up. I respond to you directly all the time, unlike you. You are acting like a child. "Any way it has been awsome debating with you the indefensible." According to YOU! It is indefensensibe according to you! What part of morality is subjective do you not understand? Oh, and you're not debating. To debate, you need an argument, and you don't have any. "St Kilda players need all the supports they can get in there pursuit of vilifing a minor/child" For the last time, she is over the AGE OF CONSENT! No matter how many times you call her a minor/child (you need to stop reading legal text books) it will never change the fact that she was able to legally consent, and she did so. For the love of god, stop ignoring facts just because they are inconvenient to you! You are such a child!!! Oh, and I'm not helping anybody vilify anyone, so stop making things up about me! You don't know what I think about this, and furthermore I don't base my morality on what you think, and thank god for that. BTW I could ask you to stop vilifying me, but you don't know any better. "To all the other readers of this post have a happy new year. keep safe and well." How mature. LOL Yes, to all the other readers of this post, I wish them a happy new year as well. Oh, and Panther, don't bother responding. I'm through with this non-debate.
Parkridge Panther
Guest
Is that right. I feel you need to grow up and also read the posts where I have directly debated this subject with. Any way it has been awsome debating with you the indefensible. Keep up the good work. St Kilda players need all the supports they can get in there pursuit of vilifing a minor/child. To all the other readers of this post have a happy new year. keep safe and well.
Rob McLean
Guest
The headline for this story is wrong in my opinion. It should read: Social media exposes athletes for WE really are. Footballers aren't the only ones doing this. Girls involved with footballers aren't the only ones receiving/taking these photos. This girl is silly and immature and hopefully she can sort her life out. The footballers in these photos are silly too. But...none of the parties in this scandal are alone in doing stupid things in this social media age.
amazonfan
Roar Guru
BTW, I also love it how you refer to me in posts to other people, but don't respond to me directly. Really, the epitome of immaturity.
Parkridge Panther
Guest
Well said and accurate Abbey. Amazonfan, in other posts, believes that because what the St Kilda players did was not unlawful then the matter should now be rested. Forget that the girl is a minor and a vunerable one at that under Austrlalian Law. He now states that the girl made a mistake.; yes she has and she needs help. The mistake is of course to allow herself to be get invovled with theses morons. She needs councelling and phsycologicl support as she obviously has no self respect and low esteem. Support yes, denegrate her as Amazon wants her to be treated both disgusting and dissgraceful.
Richard
Guest
No I think you have it wrong there. This nameless young woman is behaving like the typical cyber bully you read about, you know, the one who doesn't get her way at school and so releases embarrassing pictures of her "enemies" to all her "buddies" at school as revenge. The sort of action which in other, tragic, cases has ended in teen suicide. She has been naive to imagine that she is in love with Sam Gilbert and even more so in expecting people who have had group sex with her (apparently) to respect her. But even worse, she has behaved totally irresponsibly, in firstly stealing pictures which don’t belong to her and then broadcasting them in a deliberate attempt to harm other people. She’s no heroin. She’s a very silly young woman. She deserves to be counselled for her naivety and thoroughly sanctioned for her totally irresponsible behaviour, hopefully in a way which will help her grow up.
amazonfan
Roar Guru
Could people please understand that she's not underage?! In Victoria, the age of consent is 16. So repeating that she's underage does not make it so, as she isn't.
BigAl
Guest
Refreshingly accurate insight abby.
amazonfan
Roar Guru
Surely you're not suggesting that Bingle herself was some kind of victim? As soon as the photo was leaked, she tried to sell an interview to Women's Day. As such, I personally have no sympathy for her whatsoever. As for this girl, and she isn't underage BTW so please get your facts right, she's no b**** but nor are the footballer sexual predators or whatever some of the moralistic critics think they are. There are no winners here, and nobody is to blame, however if we are going to point fingers at the footballers, we need to also point a finger at her. So, therefore, it's everybody's mistake; it's the player's mistake that they would keep these photos (which aren't particularly compromising anyway but that's neither here nor there) and it's the girl's mistake that she jeopardised whatever sympathy people might have for her by breaking the law and acting like a vengful ex-wife from a Hollywood film.
abby
Guest
Adam, you are 100% correct.