I realise they are immensely popular vehicles, methods of interacting with friends, family and even fans but Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are not doing a whole lot of good for our NRL players.
Perhaps some serious thought should be put into barring our younger and less experienced campaigners from engaging in these forms of communication.
If I were a leading coach in the modern game (and I thank the Lord I’m not sir!) I would be highlighting the past fortnight’s drama involving sacked Canberra star Josh Dugan in an urgent meeting with my club’s social media manager.
Problems keep recurring on social media – particularly with our younger and more gung-ho footballers – and it seems to me that two or three year bans should be built into contracts until the required sense of responsibility kicks in.
May I state here that even though I am older than many Roarers, I appreciate the immediacy and intimacy these social tools can have between players and their fans but too many youngsters are getting into serious strife due to misuse and it’s time to draw a proverbial line in the sand.
I hear all of the NRL clubs conduct regular lectures outlining the potential pitfalls of social media and by and large they are being heeded.
But every few weeks a new scandal seems to erupt and the perpetrator (and hence the code) is hammered unmercifully in the mainstream media.
It seems the message isn’t getting through to the ones that matter most. Some might be painfully slow learners. others might be incapable of learning at all.
The Dugan affair was particularly unsavoury. The player took umbrage at a critic and let fly with some very pithy stuff involving the critic’s so-called “Missus” and wound up with the suggestion the critic should “end yourself”.
This came a week or so after Dugan attended a Canberra Raiders players’ forum embracing the dangers of social media.
The player had earlier posted a compromising photo of himself with a bottle in hand at a time when the club was trying to pick itself up from a poor start to the season.
In short, Dugan lacked the maturity and common sense to keep his thoughts to himself. He has paid a hefty price as Canberra terminated his contract and a potential suitor, Brisbane, dropped off talks in disgust.
It makes sense our younger brigade of league players should be protected from themselves.
Leave the Tweeting, Facebook entries and Instagramming to the more senior members of their clubs. If they stuff up, well, at least they were fully aware of the consequences.
Urge these up-and-comers to concentrate solely on building their careers and not their media profiles. Only good can come from that.
Where's The Bears?
Guest
Meesta, I agree that everyone should be entitled to a reply. And I hate the "keyboard warriors" as much as you. But if there is to be a reply, it can't be along the lines of calling people "spastics" and telling them to kill themselves and no employer should let such language slide. It's too damaging to the brand and without that brand no one has a job. It's sad that we are at a point now where banning players using social media is even a topic of conversation, but it is and if players can't control the situation themselves then clubs have to step in and control it for them. If Josh Dugan didn't have a twitter account, he'd now be $2 million richer.
Myles Stedman
Roar Guru
Completely agree. It's wonderful how people over 30 can't make mistakes. Can't wait till I reach that age myself
Paul
Guest
i expected that reply Tim. Typical Journo carve everyone else up to sell a paper but never look at yourselves for your part in all the hysteria that goes on. Ive never known a mob of people like the media that can destroy peoples integrity and never admit fault. when they are wrong. let go and live and let live .
George
Guest
They can be told they can't use it under their real names. It boggles my mind that people use this stuff under their real names. Make up an alias, tell your close friends what screen name you're using and that's that. I don't believe the media is allowed to get IP addresses, only the police so if its just a controversial comment nobody should know who said it. I have about ten fake Facebook accounts and at least 20 or more fake Yahoo e-mails. Never used Twitter though, that sounds too stupid. Anonymity is always the best policy.
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
The majority of NRL players are 18 or over. Only a small number are not recognised legally as an adult. Therefore we shouldn't need to ban players from using social media. I follow a number of players on Twitter and they're all pretty well behaved. They seem to use it to interact with both their fans as well as team mates and friends. These players who post public outbursts on social media need to learn responsibility. There is a right way and a wrong way to deal with so called "haters" on social media. Josh Dugan took it the wrong way by arguing and then attacking fans. Jarryd Hayne just now showed how to handle it. He just received a tweet from a fan telling him "Why can't you just die?" Hayne responded and defused the whole situation: "I got a couple things to do first. Rest assured it will happen." The fan then ended up apologising. No media circus around it and the problem was averted. As I have already stated, there is both a right and wrong way to deal with it. The young players who use social media need to take responsibility. We can't wrap them in cotton wool their whole lives so the sooner they learn how to respect it and use it properly the better the outcome.
Silver_Sovereign
Guest
this sounds like typical 21st parenting and cotton woolling. Individuals have to take responsibility for their actions, and have to know their are consequences. Constantly banning things because of a few idiots, hurts the majority
Jay2
Guest
It's not that it is a once off. It is that is has ALWAYS happened. It doesn't matter what mode it takes (facebook, mail, twitter, news) it is the attitude behind what you suggest that is wrong. I've been in an intimate environment in relation to one sport where an Australia legend was talking about it being normal to smoke pot before and after a game. His debut was between 1980-1985 (intentionally keeping it broad). This player was also known to antagonize his coach, players and others via media channels during and around his career. Can you tell me how this is any different? Why is it that an Athlete bahving like a 12yr old gets crucified by the media but if a surgeon does the same thing, no one knows about it? The answer, the media reports on it. Yes, there is a variety of reasons why it is 'news worthy'. Fame of player, reputation of the sport and how many viewers/readers it will generate. However, don't pretend that this is something unique or different. It is an immature person doing an immature thing. Not the end of the word.
Meesta Cool
Guest
Jay 2, " The media have a lot to say for making this an issue. As they do for making so much an issue in sport".-- best reply to this article yet. Does anyone really care how a person responds to continued attacks by Morons?. but for the press, no one would have known about this item, and my reading is that Josh gave him 'the serve' that he deserved. let's talk abou the games, not the inflated anti Josh articles.
Damn Straight
Roar Rookie
Haha, well played Tim . :)
Tim Prentice
Expert
(understand)
Tim Prentice
Expert
I unerstand he Players Association s looking at it (along with clubs) as we roar...
Tim Prentice
Expert
Yep, DS, I have to cop that. There is such a beast. New balls please!
Mango Jack
Guest
Tim, these channels are their forms of communicating, just as the bakelite phone was for us years ago. I can't see this idea working, and I would be pretty sure the players association would resist it strongly. They would find ways around it (fake accounts, etc). Unfortunately, whereas a phone call is private and temporary, social media posts are very public and persistent. Once sent, they can never be erased. Education is the only effective answer, and unfortunaltely, there will always be ones like Dugan who don't listen.
Damn Straight
Roar Rookie
http://psychcentral.com/lib/2007/what-is-catastrophizing/ :)
Bearfax
Guest
Tim get realistic. You are from my generation telling two generations past us what they should be doing. We dont even understand their world. Canterbury seemed to get Barba on track. Cronulla seemed to get Carney on track. Neither apparently have been banned from activities detrimental to them. They have just been given reality checks and treated and encouraged to act like adults. Taking the stick against them rarely works. They just resent you. They have to own their life and take responsibility for it and actions they take. If Canberra and suspended Dugan had encouraged him to take control of his behaviour, perhaps with therapy, he may still be there. Most young blokes act out in different ways and degrees.
Tim Prentice
Expert
Jay2: Oh OK, media's at fault again. Easy card to play sir. Convince me that Dugan's case is a one-off and I will drop off. This is happening all around the sporting planet. Social media can be dangerous if the users are naiive or just plain thoughtless. Face that fact.
Boatman of River Styx
Guest
Under what Act can they be banned from using perfectly legal appliances? Just because one or two stuff up, shouldn't mean that the majority are disadvantaged. If the tiny minority do the wrong thing, punish them, but don't punish the majority who behave themselves. Silly story from an out-of-ideas sophist.
planko
Roar Guru
Sounds like Robbie Keane ?
Tim Prentice
Expert
Good work Paul. You have invented a new word. I, for one, am not dirty on the world. I'm just giving an honest opinion on one of the issues of the sporting week. When a young player with as much potential/ability as Dugan goes crashing off the rails, you think journalists should sit on their hands and write about rose gardens. Obviously, you check out sites such as this to savour the warm and fuzzy world you think we should be covering. No? Perhaps that dirty dozen would be better placed heading in your direction.
ShmaxShmillas
Roar Rookie
Firstly - I demand more exclamation marks. Secondly - Josh Dugan has self restrain, he just never uses it. Any professional sportsman in any era has had to deal with criticism, it's not just now there is twitteracebookagram that it is happened, it just happens to be more prominent. Thirdly - Take a step back and honestly ask yourself, is use of social media more important than a million dollar contract? I'll let you figure that one out.