Crossing a line

[Bluemike]

I don't care how fed up, frustrated, pissed off, call it what you will I think messaging players who play for your own team with offensive messages is bang out of order!!!

" Thanks again for today mate, what a player you are. The sooner you leave Ipswich the better"

That was the message sent to Toto Nsiala on his Twitter account yesterday, f**king ignorance at it's best, thankfully most fans don't stoop that low but it just beggars belief that anyone would want to do it.

[marko69]

Mike. I got excited there. I thought this was going to be about Lamberts probable new team talks about what he’d like the ball to do when inbetween the goalposts during the official 90+8 minutes of play.

Seriously though, 100% not on...... fans shouldn’t be doing this. Way too personal over a game of football.

Having said that, very VERY tame compared to what the Jambo players / managers have been hearing / reading lately.

[Bluemike]

It may be tame in comparison Marko but for me it doesn't make it right, I find it bloody sad tbh, I bet they wouldn't say it to his face, bloody cowards.

[Ando]

I read something on twitter, apparently he’s now taken all his ITFC pictures off Instagram.

These mindless people should f..king do one and support another club. It’s a bloody game of football at the end of the day.

Yes have your views but no need to get personal with people.

[number 9]

I don't agree with the tweet, but surely a professional athlete should have a thicker skin than the average person.

[Bluemike]

Disagree, unless we are gonna adopt the same viewpoint with racial issues too, a professional sportsman should be able to deal with that too?

[number 9]

I don't believe professional athletes should have to put up with racial issues at all.

[MasseyFerguson]

I don't agree with the tweet, but surely a professional athlete should have a thicker skin than the average person.

We are all average people. Some of us are good with our hands. Some good at office work. Some good athletes. I don't see why a professional athlete's skin should be any thicker than anyone else's.

The tweet was reprehensible. The twitter user is a coward. Nsiala should not be subjected to that kind of despicable abuse.

[number 9]

Maybe I’m being misunderstood. Professional athletes should be able to handle criticism, especially when it’s coming from a fan. I’ve already said I disagree with the tweet, but in my opinion he really shouldn’t care what the fan has tweeted. I’m certainly not trying to get the thread locked! Fkn el!

[MasseyFerguson]

Maybe I’m being misunderstood. Professional athletes should be able to handle criticism, especially when it’s coming from a fan. I’ve already said I disagree with the tweet, but in my opinion he really shouldn’t care what the fan has tweeted. I’m certainly not trying to get the thread locked! Fkn el!

The written word has the disadvantage of lacking nuance. I wasn't criticising you. I understood what you meant. I just have a different opinion.

[number 9]

Fair enough...Group hug?

[Dubai Blue]

It's an interesting thread. I'm normally one to criticise a lack of tolerance in any form but I think the difference between sport and many other areas of life is that for whatever mysterious reason, sport produces an irrational passion in many of us. This irrational passion will lead to some expressing themselves without due consideration of common decency. Whilst any kind of racism or sexism or other personal abuse not based on an evaluation of the player's performance cannot be tolerated, even as a result of that passion, this kind of comment might be seen for the red mist kind of comment that it really is.

We often see comments quite similar here (and we are a pretty civilised bunch). I don't think the fact that the comment was on Toto's twitter feed is in anyway important - it's just another form of social media that he has opened up to the world voluntarily and thus has invited validation from the world which he surely understands that he will not always get.

IMO yes he should be (and almost certainly is) too think skinned to bother about static like this and yes I wouldn't write that but can appreciate that another more passionate supporter might do so in the heat of the moment.

[Bluemike]

Condoning it is opening the door for far more serious comments etc, what really irks me the most is it's a bloody Town fan to a Town player, not acceptable for me.

[Ricco]

Don't think anyone is condoning it in the slightest, only perhaps saying it's a sad inevitability.

My view is that there are bad eggs in the world, each of us may be open to tens of people who could be potential arseholes, maybe hundreds, but for sportsmen that can be tens of thousands, millions in some cases.

Obviously therefore there will be more bad eggs and more chance of this happening. With that I'd like to think most realise that it's a tiny number in reality and that those who react in that matter don't have a good grip on themselves and their emotions, hopefully they're less likely therefore to take it to heart.

[K L Blue]

I saw this on one of the Facebook pages.
It was started by the guy who did the tweet, he was so proud of himself, and did say he would say it to Toto's face.
People like this make me sick, I try to look at their career and nothing except playing for a pub team.
I for one thank Toto for what effort he does for the club, I personally don't think he's good enough, but even if he'd only played lower than L2 he'd played higher than me.

[Bluemike]

I don't suppose you happen to know the guys name KL Blue ?

[nicscreamer]

Theres a tw*t called Paul Kettle on some facebook page - wouldn't surprise me if it was him

[Bluemike]

Name doesn't ring a bell

[marko69]

You’ll always get the extreme few who’ll say something face to face. Think a few on here watched the Sunderland documentary on Netflix. That one single solitary guy who decided to confront Chris Coleman in the car park? Nutcase.

But as has been said already , ....... there are people out there who just haven’t got a grip on their emotions when it comes to sports. Sometimes see characters at the football and wonder what the hell their household is like. Must be pandemonium.

But one positive could be Toto playing in a team. He’s clearly not the sole issue.
Sportsmen who play their sport as an individual sportsman get the abuse so much worse....,, Ronnie O’Sullivan springs to mind after intentionally doing the 146...... which was hilarious in my opinion.

But having said all that....... the Liverpool keeper from the 2018 Champions League Final received death threats! Extremities of sports.

[arana peligrosa]

Is that all that was said, seems pretty innocuous when you view it. Understand if it was racially adverse or targeted skin color but fail to see the furore behind it. You realize what social media is like, you get a number of individuals with little else to do, attempting to justify their own existence and eventually all it is is the same sh*t.

Causes more problems than it solves you would argue and players not only Nsiala but nationwide essentially make a rod for their own backs by creating an account and opening themselves up to levels of castigation. Say again didn't find anything overly offensive about what was mentioned, unless of course there's more to it you wish to disclose. Disgruntled fan, access to a computer, screen, etc : happens to be one of our playing staff who made the decision to open an account to begin with and must have been aware of the potential pitfalls that came with it.

Incidentally noticed neither Lambert or Evans seem to possess any media account or membership and it don't take you long to realize why. Just don't participate in that sh*t.

[K L Blue]

I don't suppose you happen to know the guys name KL Blue ?

I went back to the 2 pages and its been removed from both of them

[Bluemike]

No worries, thank you.

[marko69]

Is that all that was said, seems pretty innocuous when you view it. Understand if it was racially adverse or targeted skin color but fail to see the furore behind it.

Like I said earlier, it really is not acceptable at all (100%) but completely agree here, Saint. In the wide world of the internet, it is extremely tame. In fact you could say the emotionally devoid disgruntled fan was quite polite about it.

Incidentally noticed neither Lambert or Evans seem to possess any media account or membership and it don't take you long to realize why. Just don't participate in that sh*t.

Good move, Saint.