Football clubs, and every other organisation one could imagine, are increasingly turning to social media as a way of connecting with their customers on a more direct, and considerably cheaper basis, but is direct communication between the players, managers, executives, media and supporters, always a good thing?
After many months of sneering in the direction of Twitter, I recently signed up to see what the fuss was about and I’ve had the most pleasant surprise. It’s actually a mine of interesting material – and it’s incredibly immediate.
In the aftermath of the Melbourne Victory vs Brisbane Roar match, and mixed up amidst the hype of Victory’s magnificent against-all-odds performance, and the questions over the FFA’s appeals process, there was the news that young Adelaide United defender Anthony Golec had tweeted his disapproval of referee Ben Williams’ performance in a questionable manner, referring to the referee as being “gay”, the “biggest homo going around”, and a “gypsie”.
The immediate nature of Twitter meant that not only were we given an insight into the thinking of young Golec, but also into the speed which the authorities can respond, and the nature of their response. Within days Golec had been suspended by his club, and ordered by the FFA to undergo counselling and issue an apology. Interestingly enough, Golec’s apology was issued to the referee for any offense he may have caused him – but not to the gay (or gypsie) community for any offense they may have suffered from being associated with Ben Williams – or from the implication that being gay or a gypsie is a bad thing.
Twitter, Facebook and any number of other platforms can now be used to distribute messages immediately, to push agendas and to start campaigns – as witnessed late this week with the backlash over Sepp Blatter’s bizarre comments on racism when he said it’s alright to be racist on the playing field so long as you shake hands at the final whistle. Immediately there were #BlatterOUT hashtags everywhere.
But amidst all the politically correct bashing and the calls for resignation, I’ll leave the final word on the subject to Arsenal’s hard tacking midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong who quite simply Tweeted, “If Blatter Ever Come to Arsenal am gna Frimpong Him.” I have no idea what it is like to be Frimponged, but I wouldn’t want to be Blatter!
For those who can’t wait a week to hear my opinions on football, I’m @JimSpiropoulos. For those who can wait, sign up to Twitter anyway, it won’t change your life, but it will provide an interesting distraction from it.
