{"id":1263,"date":"2018-06-02T15:48:27","date_gmt":"2018-06-02T15:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/?p=1263"},"modified":"2018-06-02T15:48:27","modified_gmt":"2018-06-02T15:48:27","slug":"why-twitters-good-bad-for-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/why-twitters-good-bad-for-football\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Twitter\u2019s Good\/Bad For Football"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Why Twitter\u2019s Good\/Bad For Football<\/h1>\n<p>Football has always suffered from tribalism. Since a ball was first kicked and those watching wanted one team to win over another, there have been those that have taken their favouritism too far. Sometimes football is simply used as an excuse for people to behave in a way that is despicable. Hooliganism is a good example of that. You will never convinced me that people who head to a match in order to behave violently towards the opposition are genuine football fans. I remember watching England lose to Germany in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 2010 in a bar in London. When my friend and I left, we walked past a large crowd of people smashing the windows of the Haagen-Dazs shop in Leicester square, dragging the flag off the flagpole and setting fire to it. Let\u2019s ignore the fact that the ice-cream was invented in the Bronx and that the name was a tribute to Denmark&#8217;s excellent treatment of its Jewish community in the Second World War for a moment, that\u2019s still not how real football fans react to losses.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en-gb\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">No wonder why no one gives a fuck about that white club called West Ham. Retard fans who are hooligans in part time and full on deluded the other time. Imagine th audacity of wanting Martial plus Rashford and cash for the bum Arnatuovic &#x1f595;&#x1f923;&#x1f923;<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kshitij Garg (@gargkshitij17) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gargkshitij17\/status\/1002893631441649665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">2 June 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The real football fans I saw around the city were either disconsolate or else having a party over the fact that England had even made it that far in the first place. Personally I was angry with the officials because I\u2019d have a bet on the Three Lions losing 4-2 and felt like I\u2019d been robbed, but that\u2019s another story. The point is, tribalism is a thing that cannot be denied, yet most of the time the people taking it all too far are not really football supporters, they\u2019re just weird cranks; the sort of people who want to have a fight or an argument and don\u2019t really care who it\u2019s with or what it\u2019s over. There\u2019s definitely an extent to which Twitter has given those people legitimacy, however. No longer are they the crazy people trying to provoke others outside the ground. Now they\u2019re \u2018Arsenal supporters\u2019, \u2018Liverpool fans\u2019, \u2018Evertonians\u2019, all because they\u2019ve got the name of a player in their username or have a club badge as their profile picture. All of which made me wonder, has Twitter been good or bad for football?<\/p>\n<h2>Twitter Is Bad For Football<\/h2>\n<p>More and more of late I\u2019ve been thinking about the dual-edged nature of Twitter. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s as simple as saying that the medium is definitively good or definitively bad. That\u2019s not just for football, either, it\u2019s for every aspect of life. Yes there are some terrible people that use it to air their views, but for all that they exist there are dozens of people who are far more sensible and fair that respond to them and shoot them down. That\u2019s why I\u2019ve decided to write this piece, starting with a look at why Twitter is <strong>definitely<\/strong> bad for football\u2026<\/p>\n<h3>It Lets People Say Abhorrent Things<\/h3>\n<p>Without question, the worst part of Twitter is that it allows people to say some truly abhorrent things that they would almost certainly never say without the cover of anonymity. The tribal nature of football supporting means that rationality can often go out of the window when people are responding to fans of a rival club about something. Never has that been made clearer to me than scrolling through the replies to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/stehoare\/status\/1002658653898465280\">a tweet that Ste Hoare posted the other day<\/a>. The tweet was designed to provoke a reaction, suggesting that the Everton fan giving a banning order for hitting a Lyon player whilst holding his child \u2018brought shame to our city\u2019 and that the Blues should \u2018be more like us\u2019. You can discuss whether Ste should\u2019ve sent the tweet in the first place, given that it was deliberately done to wind people up, but at no point did it say anything overly disgusting. Unlike some of the replies.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en-gb\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">No you just push walls on people and kill them<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dobbo (@GarryDobbo1) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GarryDobbo1\/status\/1002815293805260800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">2 June 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>A bloke called Garry, who looks to be in his late twenties and has a photo of him with his son on his shoulder as his profile picture, took the bait and made a comment about Liverpool supporters \u2018push[ing] walls on people\u2019 and killing them. Think about that for a moment. Someone thought that it was appropriate to use the deaths of thirty-nine innocent people in order to try to win an argument. The victims at Heysel lost their lives. Their families were devastated and communities were destroyed. Yet Garry thought it was ok to bring that up because he\u2019s an Evertonian and a Liverpool supporter had made a joke at his club\u2019s extent. There\u2019s almost certainly no way that that happens in any other walk of life. Twitter allows Garry to behave in a manner that he\u2019s very unlikely to do in real life.<\/p>\n<h3>People Can Tweet Players Directly<\/h3>\n<p>Garry is representative of the sort of people that see \u2018Justice For The 96\u2019 trend around the time of the Hillsborough anniversary and think it\u2019s ok to say \u2018What about justice for the 39\u2019, ignoring the fact that people went to jail over Heysel and that it\u2019s utterly disgusting to use the deaths of people to point score over something so trivial as footballing rivalries. That\u2019s an extreme example, but it\u2019s one worth pointing out. Another downside of Twitter is that it allows people to get in touch with players directly and tell them how they feel when something has gone wrong. Unless you\u2019re oblivious to such things, you\u2019ll no doubt have seen a phenomenal number of appalling messages sent to Loris Karius via social media in the wake of the player\u2019s mistakes during the Champions League final.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en-gb\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Karius getting all sorts of abuse tonight from these pathetic haters <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/B8P6zCceAc\">pic.twitter.com\/B8P6zCceAc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Danny Shaw (@dannyshaw55) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dannyshaw55\/status\/1000495779432353793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">26 May 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Some people chose to use the moments in the wake of the final to send him messages hoping that his family dies, that he should \u2018f*ck off out of the club\u2019. Would they go up to him in a restaurant and say the same sort of things? I don\u2019t imagine so, no. They wouldn\u2019t stand up in Anfield and scream that they hope a player\u2019s kids \u2018get AIDS\u2019, so why is that they feel they can on Twitter? It\u2019s a scourge of the game and one that the site itself does nowhere near enough to curtail. Supporters who get abused because of the colour of their skin can report it, but are regularly told that those sending the tweets have not broken the terms of the site. If that\u2019s the case, the terms are wrong, not the complainers. Not having to show your face let\u2019s people get away with things they\u2019d never dream of trying to do if those they were abusing knew who they were.<\/p>\n<h2>Twitter Is Good For Football<\/h2>\n<p>As is so often the case with things in life, there are as many good sides to the story as bad ones. For all that some people behave in an unbecoming manner, others will stand up and offer the opposite behaviour. When hooligans attack people outside of a ground, you\u2019ll see good samaritans stepping in to offer protection and help. Here\u2019s a look at the better side of Twitter when it comes to football.<\/p>\n<h3>People Can Tweet Players Directly<\/h3>\n<p>I can\u2019t even begin to imagine how Loris Karius will have felt in the wake of the Champions League final and, given the tweets I mentioned above, I very much hope that the goalkeeper had his Twitter notifications turned off. Had he had them on, however, he\u2019d have seen thousands of tweets heading his way from Liverpool supporters offering him their support and encouragement. Even in the moments after the final whistle, when millions of people around the world will have absolutely gutted, people thought to jump onto social media and tell the German that they love him and appreciate everything he\u2019d done to get us to the final in the first place. That\u2019s immensely encouraging and the messages of support will have outweighed those of abuse by ten to one.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en-gb\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Karius made some big mistakes tonight but he has also made some amazing saves this season. As a 24 year old <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LorisKarius?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LorisKarius<\/a> needs comfort &amp; encouragement not abuse. Fair play for him apologising to the fans. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/UCLFinal?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#UCLFinal<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Karius?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Karius<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/YNWA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#YNWA<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LFC<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ivtGScjgLh\">pic.twitter.com\/ivtGScjgLh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chris Kidd (@chriskidd) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chriskidd\/status\/1000513493165072390?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">26 May 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not just Karius that should be the focus of this, either. His mistakes were high profile and recent and so they spring to mind easily, but other players have had tough moment in their career at the club and supporters have been able to get behind them. Feeling isolated and alone is a terrible thing, so those with the best of intentions being able to get in touch with players can only be a good thing. Similarly, being able to speak to supporters or players from other clubs and let them know that you admire them or enjoy their style of play is the sort of thing that you might not think to do or be able to do without the use of Twitter. Liverpool supporters are unlikely to write a letter to a Manchester City player in real life, for example!<\/p>\n<h3>It\u2019s A Platform For Learning<\/h3>\n<p>Some people are so arrogant that they\u2019re convinced that they know everything that they need to know about the world. You can\u2019t teach them anything, such is the extent to which their world view is a perfect one. Yet some of us know that we\u2019re not complete, that we still have lots to learn. I can honestly say that I\u2019ve grown as a person since I joined Twitter. Though I\u2019ve always thought of myself as being an ally to the LGBTQ+ community (being an actor I have lots of gay friends), I befriended <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nic_shout\">a bi woman named Nic<\/a> on here and have learnt so much more thanks to my interactions with her. Likewise, I\u2019ve never thought of myself as a sexist person but I\u2019ve seen through the tweets of strong independent women the ways in which my behaviour can improve immeasurably.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en-gb\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The amount of overt racism, disrespect and indifference towards Black, Asian &amp; mixed ethnicity Britons is in my opinion at its highest since my childhood, 40 yrs ago.<\/p>\n<p>4-5 yrs ago it would be 1 or 2 on here, now it&#8217;s Mum&#8217;s and Dad&#8217;s with kids on their profile picture.<\/p>\n<p>Sad times.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanCollymore\/status\/1002647222155083784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">1 June 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Yet no change has been as great as that regarding my take on the subtle racism that has pervaded football more and more in recent times. For example, I was one of those that always thought that Sol Campbell didn\u2019t get managerial jobs because he seemed like an absolute idiot, yet a brief conversation with <a href=\"www.twitter.com\/sachinnakrani&lt;\/a\">Guardian journalist Sachin Nakrani<\/a> helped me realise that the same thing hasn\u2019t stopped Alan Pardew, Sam Allardyce or countless other white managers from getting jobs over and over and over again. I wouldn\u2019t claim to pretend that my eyes are now wide open regarding racial tension in football, but I hope that I\u2019m getting better at it. None of us are perfect, but if you want to keep learning then Twitter can be a brilliant tool for development. Just make sure you learn to use the block button when you\u2019re arguing with idiot\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why Twitter\u2019s Good\/Bad For Football Football has always suffered from tribalism. Since a ball was first kicked and those watching wanted one team to win over another, there have been those that have taken their favouritism too far. Sometimes football is simply used as an excuse for people to behave in a way that is despicable. Hooliganism is a good example of that. You will never convinced me that people who head to a match in order to behave violently towards the opposition are genuine football fans. I remember watching England lose to Germany in the quarter-finals of the World [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1263"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1265,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263\/revisions\/1265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}