Mayo goalkeeper Rob Hennelly admitted it took him a few years to recover from the abuse he received on social media following the 2016 All-Ireland final replay defeat. PHOTO: SPORTSFILE

GAA need to put in some strong tackles to stop the scourge of online abuse

A PLAYER (Rob Hennelly), a referee (James Owens) and a TV pundit (Ursula Jacob) shed some interesting light on what has become the modern scourge of social media - online abuse.

RTÉ Prime Time reporter Conor McMorrow shone the light on the trauma that all three went through following their own experiences of some serious online abuse, some of it so bad that Prime Time would not show the messages that had been sent to the three individuals involved on Twitter and other social media platforms.

Each had their own disturbing stories to tell and while each found it difficult to cope with the stuff that was being posted about them at the time, all of them recovered and have emerged stronger persons from the experience.

Unfortunately, others did not fare so well and the most compelling contribution came from Wexford referee James Owens who warned that if such abuse is allowed to continue it ‘could tip somebody over’.

Retired Dublin footballer Philly McMahon also had some interesting thoughts and felt clubs could play a key role in identifying those who are members of their club who have online accounts.

The one strong point to emerge from the programme is that while everyone agrees those perpetrators of such vile material and personal comments on social media should be exposed, but, as is the case with a lot of laws in this country, the victim seems to be the one with the least protection.

Jacob made a very salient point when she said that unless a perpetrator of such abuse realises that as in any breaches in criminal law, unless there are consequences for their actions, they will continue doing what they are doing.

Unfortunately, at the end of the 20-minute programme, there was no easy solution to ending this modern scourge. Although there were some very good suggestions, the bottom line seems to be identifying those responsible and the only way to get at them really is to challenge those who are allowing them the platform and that needs legislation.

I thought the suggestion by the GAA to put together their own committee and bring forward a policy document with suggestions for legislation to the government is a good one while there was also merit in the suggestion that the GAA club could play a leading role by identifying any such online abusers withing their club and having them banned from attending games.

ROB HENNELLY

MAYO goalkeeper Rob Hennelly is probably one of the best known players to have come forward and talk about the negative effect that such abuse has had on him as a person and also as a player.

The Breaffy man conceded a penalty and picked up a black card against Dublin in the 2016 All-Ireland final replay.

Mayo lost by a point but the result was to have life-changing effects on Hennelly following the tirade of online abuse that followed, particularly when the Mayo goalkeeper posted a message more or less apologising for letting his team down but also acknowledging the support he got from his family, friends and teammates.

Sadly, a lot of what appeared on social media was not very forgiving for what Hennelly admitted to be a mistake he made. It took him a few years to recover, but recover he did.

He said platforms like Twitter can become "quite a dark place from time to time in relation to GAA".

"I've had stuff that I wouldn't repeat said about me. I was trying to deal with the consequences of messing up, and making mistakes, and letting my teammates down and the supporters down. And then to have this whole online conversation going around, which is not just on my abilities as a footballer, it's also on my character. It's very personalised. And that was very tough at the time."

Hennelly acknowledges that it is partly due to "everybody being so passionate about GAA". He said some supporters are so consumed by their own feelings after a defeat that they express their anger online in ways that they would not do in person. But he found it very difficult to deal with.

"There's lots of lessons in it. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, at the same time, to be the focus of online abuse," he said.

The good news is that Rob won his battle in the end and it still minding the posts for Mayo where he remains their number one ‘keeper but also finds time to lend an ear to those who have or continue to experience such abuse.

"I've had lots of conversations with teammates, opposition players, underage players who've gone through tough times. I suppose the main thing that I always say to them is that: 'It'll pass'. Always try and put it in perspective. It's a game of football. It's never only your fault. It's a team sport. And, if you approach it in the right way, you can learn from it," he explained.

URSULA JACOB

THE four-time All-Ireland camogie champion from Wexford has a different story to tell. It wasn’t for anything she did on the field that she took some savage abuse on social media as a pundit. It was her accent.

But she too bounced back and more or less told those anonymous keyboard warriors where to stuff their criticism.

"I don't know, is it that it's because I'm a woman or is it because I'm from Wexford? I'm not sure. Two things that I'm not willing to change or looking to change, but I'm very proud of both."

She took on the online trolls by issuing a statement on Twitter.

"Sometimes you need to stand up to these bullies or cowards," she said.

"And I feel better for it. I feel stronger about it. I feel like I've taken back some of the power because it had really knocked my confidence."

Jacob said she is very open to anyone being critical of her analysis or knowledge of the game but "it’s always personal, tasteless comments that are targeted towards me".

She believes people should have to produce an ID when they are setting up a social media account.

"As long as there's no consequences to you setting up random accounts, I think these trolls will just continue to do what they do," she said.

JAMES OWENS

REFEREES at local and national level are becoming more and more a target for abuse, not just on social media but during and after matches they referee.

As a reporter who regularly attends games at local level it is shocking the amount of abuse that referees have to endure.

Of course at the highest level the pressure can get to referees, so much so that Croke Park has a psychologist available to referees who needs support, but Wexford referee James Owens, who has refereed three All-Ireland finals, is worried that online abuse could push some referees over.

He said: "I'm an individual. You don't know what kind of a day I'm after having. You don't know what's going on in my life, my personal life, you don't know what's going on in my family's life or whatever.

"You mightn't mean to do what you're doing, but you know, something like that could tip somebody over. My advice is - just think before you write."

His advice to referees is stay away from social media for a few days at least after doing a game.

"The most important thing is that if you're after having a game, for the next two or three days just don't follow anything online or anything like that. Don't be looking at stuff because there can be nasty stuff said about you and it can get personal."

GAA president Larry McCarthy wants the government to bring in legislation to curb social media abuse of amateur sportspeople by identifying perpetrators and penalising them.

He pleaded with online trolls: "Stop. Absolutely stop. It's unfair. We're all volunteers. Referees are volunteers. Players are volunteers. Stop, stop, stop would be my message to them."