First of all, I don’t want to be accused of being anti-twitter or a member of the “fun-police” (as Alan Partridge may describe it), but sometimes I wonder whether Twitter is really a sensible place for professional footballers to vacate.
I understand that there are many, many benefits of the social network, some of which include giving fans access to huge celebrities, including A list footballers, and actually vice-versa too; its one of the few times where the celebrity has the ability to communicate directly to its fans without needing to modify their views to suit their PR company/agent, etc.
Another huge advantage is of course that it is instant – tweets are live, in real-time, whereas in the past if someone wanted to say something they’d have to first arrange a news conference, call in the media agencies, have a briefing before announcing anything, etc – all of which takes many hours to sort out. If you look at a footballer like Eden Hazard, who last season used Twitter to announce which club he’d be playing at next season, he played to his followers like a real pro – even giving a countdown to his decision and building as much tension and interest as possible (whilst at the same time probably tripling his number of followers on Twitter).
I love Twitter more so because it gives power to the people and it prevents newspapers and news agencies from having too much power. Previously footballers and so on could sell their story to the highest bidder, or it was up to newshacks to dig and fight and create a story where often there was none – all in a bid to sell papers. By the source of the story “cutting out the middleman” they’re reducing the need of the newspapers and media, making them now a little redundant (ever noticed the number of news stories on TV and articles in newspapers which are simply “reporting” stories of what’s happened on Twitter in the past day?) I love Twitter because it reduces the need for rags like The Sun, who’s only aim is to make as much money as possible, and to not actually report the news in an unbiased (and often untruthful) manner.
Despite the many huge advantages of footballers using Twitter, a recent incident has in particularly drawn my attention to the problems when fans and footballers are given the chance to mix together socially.
At the weekend Tottenham beat Southampton with a very late Gareth Bale goal. The goal came around the 85th minute, with Bale cutting inside, running at some players before unleashing an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner to secure 3 points against his former side. It’s worth noting that Spurs were desperate for 3 points to keep their European dream alive, whilst Southampton are pretty-much safe from relegation and have nothing to play for but pride. 17 year old Southampton defender Luke Shaw was one of the players that Bale cut inside of, before running and firing the winning goal. One so-called fan of the Saints tweeted the defender after the game, insulting him directly before asking him why he couldn’t see Bale was going to cut inside – that’s what he always does. To his, and just about every man and his dog’s surprise, Shaw replied to the tweet – “:( couldn’t catch him.”
The offensive Tweet came from “Oman”, who has since apparently disabled or deleted his account, probably on the count on the number of messages received from others criticising his action. I find it incredible how someone can be as cruel as to deliver such a message, especially at someone who plays for a team they support, and of course who is just 17 years old. I’m sure the offender was probably around the same age or younger, and perhaps a bit bitter that they don’t get to play football with the likes of Bale week-in, week-out, but you can’t really blame Omar solely. There must be thousands of offensive messages sent directly to footballers and suchlike on a daily basis. Take 5 minutes on Twitter and you’re sure to get the feeling that it’s not really the kind of place that you’re going to feel much love. The majority of users love to criticise, and take to the platform to vent anger and frustration. I think Shaw was brave to reply to the Tweet and he’ll have undoubtedly received a lot of encouraging messages since, but I still feel that in order to use the site as a professional footballer you really need to have some very thick skin indeed.
It’s worth noting as well that when footballers make mistakes they too can receive many many welcoming and supportive tweets, and its that same old-adage that a few idiots can ruin it for everyone. Perhaps that’s the case here too, but sometimes I wonder whether football clubs or footballer agents should perhaps work with footballers to screen incoming tweets, and to screen outgoing tweets too (to prevent the countless times where people send a tweet that they later go on to regret, or which is done in the heat in the moment, or simply without fore-thought).
I’m sure that footballers use of Twitter will continue, and it will be a platform that will be used to build fans and build players PR. However with some clubs and managers banning its use, you wonder if perhaps a more sensible line would be to make use of some kind of Twitter moderation, provided within the football club in this context, to prevent young footballers like Shaw having to leave themselves open to idiotic tweets 24 hours a day.
