Nagle reveals social media strain
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KERRY rally star Paul Nagle has spoken out about the strains and pressure social media can place on prominent sports people.
In an interview with The Kerryman, the Aghadoe man revealed that, while he was working for the Citroen World Rally team and was going through a difficult spell in 2017 and 2018, he and his team mate Kris Meeke came in for savage criticism online, which effected both men and their families.
“Social media has a major impact now on any form of life,” he said.
“We used to get very heavily criticised. Irish people, English people, we call them keyboard warriors, they were very, very critical of it. Some of it rightly so, but people don’t realise at the end of the day we’re not going out there deliberately to make mistakes.
“They don’t know the ins and the outs of what’s going on inside the team. We have families, we have kids, wives, and when you come home you see your partner upset because of what they’re saying about you this week [it’s not easy].
“That’s a form of life now and you have to deal with it. The last six or eight months at Citroen for me it was chore to me. It wasn’t the love of the sport that I grew up with around Killarney many years ago, it was hard to go to work to be quite honest with you.”
After taking some time out of rallying and splitting with Meeke, his long time pilot, Nagle is back on the international scene alongside Waterford’s Craig Breen. Alas their progress has been halted by the COVID-19 crisis.
The Irish duo had been due to contest the European Championship in 2020 with Hyundai, while also participating in the occasional WRC round.