Social media companies urged to end anonymity
Television rugby reporter Lauren Jenkins says social media usersmustbemadetoconfirm their identity, after the BBC’S Sonja Mclaughlan was subjected to online abuse following Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations game between Wales and England.
England Rugby and the Welsh Rugby Union have sent support to Mclaughlan, who described how she had been reduced to tears by abuse on social media after her postmatch interviews that included questions to England captain Owen Farrell and head coach Eddie Jones. The Principality Stadium clash, won 40-24 by Wales, was dominated by two controversial refereeing decisions.
Jenkins, a freelance reporter and presenter for the BBC, Premier Sports and Welsh channel S4C, says social media anonymity can no longer be allowed to happen. “For me, the only way is getting users to confirm their identity. The sad thing is that calls for identity verification have been around for years and we don’t seem to be getting any closer to that. But it is a multi-layered issue. Some predict that could discriminate against the poorest in society. I think around a billion people don’t have official identification.
“I would say I limit my (social media) use these days,” added Jenkins. “I think twice about tweeting things and probably am less controversial than I would be in person because I can’t be bothered to entertain the responses. Twitter can be a really awful beast sometimes and no-one should ever be reduced to tears for doing their job.
“It can actually be quite a lonely job at times. In this environment, you are often alone watching the match and yet, suddenly, part of a million different households with just a few minutes to cover what was a ridiculously-eventful match. It is unbelievably tough and Sonja has years of experience. The thought that the very first thing she encounters after that is a wave of abuse is very sad.”
The Welsh Rugby Union, meanwhile has joined England Rugby in condemning social media abuse directed at England players and members of the media following Saturday’s encounter. England prop Ellis Genge revealed he’d been subjected to death threats after footage surfaced of him apparently neglecting to clap the victorious Welsh players off the pitch following the match, which Wales won 40-24.
In a statement, the WRU said: “We are hugely disappointed and saddened by the social media abuse directed at opposition players and members of the media following the game at the weekend. As a rugby community, these individuals have let us all down. This has to stop. It is not acceptable.”
England Rugby issued the following statement on Sunday: “Respect is a core value of rugby. Yesterday, we lost to Wales, who deserved their victory. Unfortunately, some of the reaction on social media to players, and the team, has not shown the level of respect the rugby community prides itself on. We will support our players and team against online abuse and hope true rugby fans will stand with us.”
Aberdeen midfielder Lewis Ferguson has told Hibs it is up them whether they want to finish third or not.
The battle for best of the rest threw up a surprise result at the weekend.
While Aberdeen lost narrowly at Celtic, Hibs were defeated by Motherwell who had been struggling and were missing a number of players.
It leaves the gap between the sides at four points with the split approaching, although Hibs have a game in hand against lowly Ross County.
Ferguson believes Aberdeen have turned a corner but finishing third is out of their hands.
“We went through a bad spell of not getting results and not performing well,” he said. “We have turned that corner in the last few weeks.
“It is not really down to us at the minute.
"Hibs are obviously in control of that so it is down to them and whether they want to get that spot or not. We can just do all we can as we are pushing as hard as possible.
“We obviously want that and that was in our sights at the start of the season. It is still our aim, but it is not in our hands at the minute.
“We have plenty of games to go and if we can pick up as many points as we want then you never know. It might get us that third spot.”
All three of Hibs’ pre-split matches are away from Easter Road, starting with a trip to League Cup winners St Johnstone on Saturday. The Hibees holdthethirdbestawayrecord in the league.
Meanwhile, Hibs are to invest in new performance and wellbeing software following a generous five-figure donation from a fans’ forum.
Hibs.net revealed on Monday morning that £10,187.50 had been donated to the club over the weekend, taking the messageboard’s total contributions to the Easter Road side to nearly £120,000.
The forum makes an annual contribution to the club with last year’s figure of £7,700 going towards refurbishments at the Hibernian Training Centre in Ormiston as well as helping to improve the club's performance analysis including an upgrade to the GPS tracking system.
A statement from Hibs.net admins read: “The admin team at hibs.net are very pleased to announce that we have made a donation of £10187.50 to the club this weekend.
“Part of the money will be used to finance new performanceandwellbeingsoftware which will be used throughout the club including by the first team.
“This allows the sports science and coaching team to monitor players’ sleep quantity and quality, stress markers, recovery status and so on.
"This brings the sites total contribution to the club to almost £120,000 over the years.”
It is nearly a full calendar year since supporters were last allowed inside Easter Road and since then the club has benefited from the generosity of Hibs fans through regular donations.
As well as contributions from Hibs.net, the Hibernian Supporters Limited group has passed more than £287,000 onto the club including a record high monthly donation of £53,375 in January.