Take yourself off social sites for a few days
GAA referee’s advice to trolled sports stars...
A TOP GAA referee has offered a simple piece of advice to sports stars who are faced with a barrage of online abuse: ‘Remember you can uninstall social media on your phone, tablet and computer.’
David Gough got the advice himself in the run-up to the 2019 All-Ireland final when he was the man in the middle for the clash between Dublin and Kerry, a game in which he famously sent off Dubs defender Jonny Cooper.
He told the Mail On Sunday: ‘The GAA have a national match officials manager, former Meath goalkeeper Donal Smyth, and he spoke to me a couple of weeks before the game.
‘His advice was simple, disengage from social media and don’t go back on it again until a few days afterwards. Donal is an
ex-guard and he would have dealt with complaints about social media abuse in that role, so he knew what he was on about and how to avoid the pitfalls.
‘I turned all social media off on my phone a week and a half before that match, well almost all. I am a huge tennis fan and kept an app that allowed me watch the US Open, and didn’t turn it on again until the Tuesday after the game.
‘It’s a shame these days that you constantly read about Premier league footballers and even our own GAA players getting abused via social media.
‘What you learn to realise is the opinions that matter to you are the opinions of people who know you.’
Gough still got caught up in the social media storm that followed Sunday Game analyst Joe Brolly’s decision to criticise his decision to send off Cooper.
He says now the comments discussing whether he was right or wrong had zero impact on him.‘The world and his mother knew he was wrong. I’d say it was harder for him to take than me,’ he said.