By Tom Parsons
April 19 – Local Welsh footballers and clubs are being warned that they could face disciplinary action if they send abusive messages through social media and websites to their opponents.
This follows a series of incidents involving facebook and twitter pages where teams and players posted insulting messages to their rivals. The South Wales Football Association (SWFA) has told clubs in their jurisdiction that offensive and aggravating comments will be classed as misconduct.
Mark Adams, the SWFA official responsible for discipline, said: “We’ve had a couple of cases this year where we’ve had complaints from individuals about comments made about them on Facebook or Twitter. I felt it was important to do a reminder that all clubs should tell players to be careful what they’re saying on Twitter.”
Adams went on to comment that since the warnings have been in place there have been no further incidents of abuse on the social media hubs. He also added that he didn’t want to spoil people’s fun on the communities but “there was a distinction between banter and being offensive”.
Abuse on the social networking sites has been a talking point over the last year, with several people being arrested for insulting people over the internet. British Olympic diver Tom Daley was on the receiving end of hurtful messages over the death of his father whereby a 17-year-old boy was arrested for malicious communications.
Daley also was the subject when Daniel Thomas, a footballer playing for Port Talbot Town, was fined £500 and suspended for one match after he was arrested following a homophobic tweet he sent to the Olympic diver.
Liam Stacey, a student at Swansea University was given a 56 day prison sentence for posting racist tweets about footballer Fabrice Muamba after he collapsed on the pitch.
Former footballer Stan Collymore has also been the target of racial abuse on twitter, with two different individuals arrested for “publishing written material to stir up racial hatred”. Collymore commended the work of the Northumbria police for quickly catching the culprit for one of the crimes.
There has been some criticism of the police for the above arrests, arguing that only celebrities are protected from “twitter trolls” and countless cases of abuse and racial hatred go on everyday unpunished. There have also been claims that these arrests could violate people’s freedom of speech.
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