Soapbox Corner - with PembrokeshireSport.co.uk

Keep inappropriate Face Book comments about referees out of the ether!

Over the past couple of months I have been introduced to the joys of Face Book and whilst I can see the benefits of being able to have a quick chat on line with friends, or to express your feelings, I must admit to having concerns about the way that some people can say what they like about others, using the worst possible language imaginable.

It is evident in sport that some players and supporters (some of whom have never played the game they watch!) can even stoop to calling referees, who give up so much time for their love of the game, f****** cheats or even worse!

Now I have to confess that I am speaking as someone who has already been banned twice by Face Book, the last time for a whole month! Not, I hasten to add, for using the streams of filth that some people think are acceptable, but because I apparently committed the awful sin of asking too many other sport lovers, all of whom I knew, to be my friends at one given time!

Roland was perhaps wrong – but not a F****** cheat!

But I was reinstated, with a stern warning on line (you can never speak to anyone to tell them I was doing no harm) just in time to read the comments written on Face Book about Alain Roland’s refereeing of the Rugby World Cup semi-final. Now I was lucky enough to meet Sam Warburton at Haverfordwest RFC’s ‘Pork Supper’ earlier in the year and like all the angry correspondents I felt that Messieur Roland was harsh, I felt that the tackle wasn’t done out of malice, although it is interesting that having seen the incident again, Warburton felt that the referee was right in showing him the red card.

What I felt was awful wasn’t the way that correspondents on Face Book criticized Roland but the awful and violent language used. For example, one thoroughly decent young feller I have been proud to know twice called him a f****** c***, and I know that if his parents saw that comment they would be deeply ashamed and extremely embarrassed. Now I am fully aware that might sound pompous but I really do feel that people who need to use that sort of obscene filth have lost the validity of their point of view almost before they have started. And just as worrying is the fact that Face Book let the comments stay on line!

Local referees must NOT be ostracized on computer

But from my point of view, what is becoming even worse is the fact that this eagerness to condemn sporting officials is becoming more prevalent in the criticism of local referees on Face Book. I’m sure that the writers don’t realise that what they say stands under the country’s libel laws and the guilty party could be taking them to court for libel or deformation of character. I spoke to a well-known local lawyer who is also a great sports lover and he told me that in a way, writing such rubbish on line is even more damaging than in print because it could be read anywhere around the world, and is there for ever in the ether, rather than being tomorrow’s chip papers!

Think of their families

Even outside the legal aspects, I can’t help but wonder if those who call referees ‘cheats’ or question their parentage or place of birth, have considered another fact. Referees have children and other members of their family who use Face Book and it must be awful if they see some of the comments written about their dads, sons, brothers or nephews.

So my simple plea is for anyone who writes in such an offensive manner about others who are trying their best to put something back into their sport, consider this:

There are good referees and some not so good referees, just like there are with regard to players. But the player who misses a tackle or fires wide of a goal isn’t regarded as a cheat – so don’t call refs that because they will have made their decision from what they have seen in a split second.

Just show a little respect

 If we respect them for the fact that they are only human, and enjoy a bit of friendly banter from the touchline – then perhaps we might see a lot more former players taking up the whistle!