A Tweet-peek inside the football fraternity

LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 11: Rio Ferdinand warms up with Ashley Cole and Joe Cole during the England training session at Wembley Stadium on October 11, 2010 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Twitter came into existence in 2006 and the impact it has made is for all to see. The football fraternity has accepted it with open arms. And why not? The micro-blogging site has brought the fans closer to their favourite stars like never before. You can chat, praise and hurl abuses at the players (not advisable), and a sneak-peak into their personal lives. The players use it to share their views, interact among themselves and their fans, but there have been instances when they vent their frustration leading to fiery debates, fines, inviting bans, and wrath of their team management. Certain characters hold back themselves from getting into all this trouble.

Social media is a place where one can banter about almost anything, and the problem arises when users don’t think before tweeting. The 140-160 word limit of the internet equivalent of the Short Message Service is more than enough to launch a parade of taunts and insults resulting in controversies of all sorts. You will notice when you sign up in Twitter, “The Twitter Teacher” is there to guide you to get comfortable with the site. I opine, it should also flash out a message for the account holder saying,”Think before you tweet, and especially if you are a professional footballer”. The poor players who steal the limelight on the field come under persistent public scrutiny for their tweets and status updates on the social networking sites.

Rio Ferdinand took a dig at Ashley Cole for testifying John Terry’s innocence in the court. John Terry was being tried for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, Rio’s younger brother, in a game between Chelsea and QPR. Although Terry came clean Rio called Ashley Cole a “Choc-ice” via a re-tweet. Now the term has a highly racial connotation as it means a black person behaving like a white. The tweet was found highly offensive and Rio was sanctioned a £45,000 fine by the English FA for improper conduct. The defender was lucky to avoid a match ban. Ashley Cole did not seem too perturbed by the tweet and continues to remain ‘friends’ with Rio.

Perhaps the worst affected due to the tweets are the referees who come under constant criticism by the players, managers, and the fans alike. England’s best referee Howard Webb did not have a great game when he officiated a high-octane third round FA cup tie between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford. Howard Webb had awarded a penalty for an alleged Dimitar Berbatov dive and later on dismissed Gerrard for a dangerous tackle on Michael Carrick. Liverpool lost the match by a solitary goal but Ryan Babel was not finished yet.

Babel mischievously posted a photo-shopped Howard Webb picture in a Manchester United jersey. The end product was a delight to watch and was received well by rival fans. Babel on top of that went on to taunt Webb saying, this is the best referee of England, and disapproved it instantly with a head-shake comment further. Although Ian Holloway, the Blackpool manager appreciated Babel’s Photoshop skill, by voicing that Webb looked smart in the United kit in an interview the English FA did not seem impressed by Babel’s act. The England FA are notorious for lacking a sense of humour and Ryan Babel was charged with improper conduct and fined £10,000 in-spite of apologies made to Webb claiming that it was nothing personal, but just an emotional outburst.

In a rather hilarious incident British cyclist, Chris Hoy was at the receiving end of derogatory tweets form the Tottenham Hotspur fans as Spurs lost to Stoke City. The Spur’s fans had mistaken him for Chris Foy who was held responsible for Stoke’s victory after his erroneous decisions denied the North-Londoners a precious victory. Even a usually calm countenanced Harry Redknapp expressed his discontent towards Foy’s officiating in that game. Chris Hoy, an Olympic hero would have been embarrassed by the public failure to recognize him.

Twitter has certainly brought the formerly aloof football personalities close to their fans such that they can know about their personal likes and dislikes and get to know about them on a completely different level. This can also help the clubs in advertising and adding a few more pounds or dollars into their revenue. But again, when two persons are chatting virtually things can go volatile within a snap of a finger. An anonymous supporter ironically, hurled a few abuses at a feisty Wayne Rooney calling him “a fat Whore” and “ugly little nonsense (sic)” . Wayne Rooney is nothing of a meek personality and got back at him tweeting that he will put him to sleep in 10 minutes. Both even agreed for a show-down at a training ground. Fortunately the outburst remained online.

That’s not exactly the best way to get up and close with your football star. For a footballer, who is publicly known it becomes very difficult to take in everything, and their egos can result in tweet tirades. Everything they say is a potential controversy. One thing the players should keep in mind is to avoid tweeting immediately after a match. In most of the cases it ends with disastrous implications for the player himself. No matter how emotionally disturbed, the players should certainly put a lid on their post-match emotions.

Marvin Morgan, an Aldershot player was subbed off when playing against Hereford. Morgan was rudely jeered off by his own team supporters and this surely would not have gone down well with him. The last thing Morgan would have done is login to his twitter account. Unfortunately, this is exactly what he did. The tweet posted by him sarcastically thanked the supporters for booing him and wished that they all die. What followed was bizarre. Morgan was suspended, fined for an amount equaling two week’s wages and placed on the transfer list. A player should be allowed to speak his mind out at times. After all they don’t mean any malice with their tweets. One should not fire a player for a mindless tweet. Alas! Sometimes things do get serious and players tend to forget professional mannerisms.

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 18: Winston Reid of West Ham United and Darren Bent of Aston Villa battle for the ball during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Aston Villa at the Boleyn Ground on August 18, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

Darren Bent was seemingly frustrated at Spurs and wanted a move away. A polite and cultured meeting would have sufficed, but Bent thought of venting his frustration via twitter. In a foul-mouthed tweet directed at Daniel Levy, Bent blasted the Tottenham Chairman. Surprisingly and shockingly, his transfer request was granted, but it is surely a wrong way to get things done.

Youth and folly go hand in hand, but tweeting about your mischief-ful heroics is not a good thing. Again, especially when you are a professional footballer. Neil Lennon, the Celtic manager would not have in his wildest dreams dreamt that there is someone plotting to bomb him. Kieran Bowell and Max Mckee, two Scottish youth players definitely had a plot to demolish Lennon. But they did not have to approve of it via a tweet to the entire public. The playful mischief resulted in the sacking of the duo by their respective clubs.

Mistakes are a part of life, “Agreed!”, that’s what Joey Barton would say. But if we say we should learn from them, it would surely fall on deaf ears for Barton. The whole football world was mourning the death of Welsh great Gary Speed when Joey Barton decided to post a rash tweet akin to his countless rash challenges. To his credit Barton had started sensitively sharing his condolences with Gary’s family. But, then suddenly his rational fuse went off and he tweeted that Gary’s suicide was a selfish act. The bitter insensitivity expectedly drew lot of criticism, but instead of apologizing Barton boasted of his supposedly intellectual statement branding the complainants as half-brains.

Amid all the chaotic controversies footballers do reveal their personal side positively through social media. Cristiano Ronaldo often posts the pictures of his victories. He also announced to the world about him becoming a father of a baby boy in 2010 through a tweet and a facebook post. Arsenal starlet, Jack Wilshere is a fun guy on Twitter and once he jokingly tweeted, “Breaking transfer news, I have moved from the sofa to bed.”

Footballers may not be the most articulate or thoughtful with words. But they have the right to voice their opinions. Twitter does not seem the best place because of its public visibility but then everyone is entitled to their views. The punishments handed down to the players for their tweets are too harsh at times. Preventing them from using technology is next to impossible. Their opinions should be enjoyed and taken with a pinch of salt.

Sure, there is a professional etiquette to be maintained. A player should not reveal the team-selection or team-tactics to the world. National sides do tend to curtail Twitter activity during tournaments to avoid distractions. Social media is very useful when it comes to advertising, promoting brands and creating a positive image. The instant messaging attribute does help a fan to keep up with the latest updates. As always technology needs to be used with control and deliberation.

A personal interface to the public personalities is the biggest boon of Twitter, and ironically also its biggest bane.