Why it's not as simple as telling athletes to ‘get off social media’

You don’t need to look far to find examples of athletes copping completely unacceptable abuse via social media. In Australia it’s an increasingly hot topic, especially in the in the AFL and NRL, as players are targeted by trolls about everything ranging from their performance (often in the context of said troll’s sports betting activity), to their appearance, race or gender.

If we specifically look at race, what we’ve seen this year in the AFL is a consistent approach whereby players have ‘called out’ racist abuse they receive via social media channels; take the examples of Aaron Hall, Eddie Betts and Neville Jetta. As a unit, the league’s indigenous players have seemingly united around this response to the cowardly practice, and while we aren’t to know whether or not it is influencing behaviour, a consistent response should be applauded if that’s what resonates most with this group.

These two sports are the biggest in the Australian sporting landscape, and thus receive the most media attention when these types of incidents occur, but rest assured that male and female athletes across all codes, big and small, are being abused via these channels on the regular.

Globally, the same applies; take this excellent feature series from the BBC, with sportswomen talking about their experiences, or one of many features looking at the constant barrage of death threats tennis players receive on social media, especially those outside of the world's top 100.

In my time working with athletes, both within a Club environment and also when employed by them at the Rugby Union Players’ Association, I worked with them to help develop understanding around the dangers and pitfalls associated with social media.

This didn’t just mean explaining the ways in which they could breach protocols and get themselves in trouble, which of course there were many. It meant explaining how to block trolls. How to censor replies to posts. How to report abuse, how to support teammates who’ve been abused, and how to ensure the security of your accounts so that loved ones didn’t feel compelled to engage with trolls on your behalf. It meant understanding the importance of understanding and using each platform properly, and the challenges presented by each different social media channel. 

However, one of the most important things I liked to stress to athletes was the many ways in which they could benefit by having an online presence, and for this reason I get extremely frustrated whenever I read that athletes should ‘get off’ social media in order to avoid the possibility of being abused.

It must be said that this suggestion almost always comes from a good place.

Take Australian cricket coach Justin Langer who said recently, “If I can give anyone who is in the public eye any advice at all it is zero social media, because I don’t need any stranger telling me how good I am. More importantly I don’t need strangers telling me how bad I am.”

Or Collingwood President and media personality, Eddie McGuire, whose take is that, “You’ve got to make a decision in life: do you want to play in that pool, and maybe you can be a Kardashian and make some money and get free stuff here and there. There's no free ride, you know that.”

Both Langer and McGuire mean well here, but I can't agree with their adivce.

Athletes have a limited window in which to ‘play in that pool’. There are massive misconceptions about the salaries earned by many of the nation’s top athletes, with figures invariably warped by the top earners in each sport and many competitions’ minimum salaries actually significantly lower than the general public may realise.

Athletes face having to renegotiate their contract every two or three years, shifting cities, states and even countries, and spend significant amounts of time away from their families (including missing out on significant events such as weddings and childbirth), every year let alone one in which they've had to live in hubs.

It’s a job jam-packed with insecurity, as well as representing a career peak for many in regards to earning capacity, coming at a time when they are not ingrained with decades of experience managing their finances. Many simply don’t have an opportunity to prepare for starting a brand new career when their athletic one ends, and for so many the timing of that transition is involuntary.

And I haven’t even begun to explore the physical risks they take for our enjoyment, and the impact that can have on the rest of their lives. Not convinced? I recommend a quick read of this interview with recently retired English Rugby captain Dylan Hartley. It may make you reconsider.

So… with that in mind, ‘getting off social media’ is not a simple approach that many can take. It is of critical importance for athletes to capitalise on commercial opportunities presented within a narrow window, to showcase their personality off the pitch as an investment in their future, and to control as much of their own narrative as possible – through the use of social media.

I would also like to see sports broadcasters take a leaf out of the UFC's book, and showcase athlete tweets as part of the broadcast experience - it adds so much insight and colour to coverage. In fact, the UFC has done a great job of empowering it's fighters to engage in social media; "...last November the UFC announced it would award 12 bonuses per fiscal quarter, rewarding what it described as “creative and successful uses of Twitter” to its cadre of competitors. It was the first Twitter-related financial incentive of its kind."

When looking to find a solution and stop the abuse of athletes on social media, I don't have the answer - but, for mine, going offline and avoiding the the problem isn't it.