THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON SPORTS ATHLETES
Social media has opened up possibilities within the sports industry for both opportunity and risk. The potential risks of postings by sports athletes on social media platforms are highlighted herein, which may result in costly litigation, if not properly mitigated.
For the majority of the population, sport is a pastime that is played as a non-vocational leisure activity or watched on television or other media platforms as part of a healthy lifestyle. For a few blessed individuals, it is a way of making a living. Sport as a professional occupation requires physical skill, dedication, concentration, and mental focus to a disciplined way of living that includes eating well, training and sleeping, inter alia. Lack of concentration and focus when applied on social media platforms as to postings may result in dire consequences for sports athletes.
Sports athletes must maximize their career earning potential over usually a short period of time by providing athletic services to a club or team. Some also sell their image for product endorsement or use social media as a platform to create lucrative earnings. There are however risks associated with social media platforms and postings thereon.
Owing to the scarcity of successful athletes and/or the short duration of a professional career, some players in certain sports have to supplement their sports-related earnings with other jobs or forgo sport as an occupation altogether and that is why sports athletes endeavour to create multiple streams of income, using different types of sources (i.e. social media postings), while the opportunities are still available.
When we look profoundly into social media and its impact on sports athletes, it is evident that real-life people also are influenced by social media and not just only sports athletes. This is because you get a glimpse into what it is like to have money, be famous and enjoy a luxurious life with just the touch of your hands.
This allows the public to now have a glimpse into the life of a sports athlete along with millions of other hungry followers on applications such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. These followers are not always there to contribute constructively, but often to derogate the sport star. Some even are hired to be your downfall. The impact of social media on sports athletes may hold the potential to destroy the reputation and career of an athlete. Some sports athletes are sharing everything on social media inter alia holidays, engagements and events. Some of them also have no hesitation to give opinions, share their beliefs and provide input on certain matters. This could be dangerous if the bad-minded person finds this information or lures the athlete into their needs.
In the case of Voula Papachristou, the Greek triple jump champion who was expelled from the 2012 London Olympics due to this incredibly callous tweet that drew a comparison between disease and her African co-olympians: “with so many Africans in Greece, at least the West Nile mosquitoes will be eating food from their own home.” She was mocking African migrants and expressing support for a far-right wing political party, which caused her to be expelled even before the start of the games. She apologised but the damage remained.
Another example was that of the former English cricketer, Kevin Pietersen text message dispute, where the power of social media played a hugely destructive role. Pietersen was suspended in the summer of 2012 for the Third Test against South Africa after it emerged that he had been sending messages to the South African players. He apologised but, once again, the damages remained and could not be undone.
In another text dispute, Damian De Allende, a Springbok Centre apologised after hitting out at a rugby fan that criticised his performance against Argentina. Twitter was abuzz after the Springboks lost 26-24 to Los Pumas in Salta back in 2016. A rugby fan hit out at the Springboks’ performance and singled out De Allende and Johan Goosen, tweeting: “I’ve reflected upon that terrible 80 min. I blame our defense. Leaving 14 points on the field did not help either. @Springboks” and “Also passing would not kill us. Our Wings are currently spectators. *cough* @Doogz *cough* @Goose10Johan *cough*”. An upset De Allende then responded, tweeting: “Cough some more while you sit on your couch and enjoy your life doing nothing.” De Allende later deleted the tweet and apologised. This possible text dispute was luckily mitigated.
Kaizer Chiefs’ management also reportedly requested Itumeleng Khune (it is unknown when), their goalkeeper and South African soccer player, to slow down on either posting or replying to his fans on social media platforms. Khune, a regular on Twitter and Instagram, then proceeded to slow down on postings. It has been said that his consistent postings on social media platforms influenced his game, hence this was apparently done in an attempt so that Khune could re-focus on his game.
Social media is changing the way sports athletes, clubs and fans are interacting with each other. From live-tweeting games, creating snarky memes and cheerleading from the web sphere, spectators are no longer simply watching sport, and fans can often get news and insights straight from the source or athlete. For the sake of brevity, I have only highlighted a few unwanted situations, but from the onset, it is evident that if a sports athlete cannot exercise control over postings on social media platforms, it may result in “hefty reputational and career school fees” being paid. These types of cases and/or situations seem to be increasing sharply and pose a danger to sports athletes or potential sports athletes.
There is enough reason to believe that “prevention is better than cure” within the sports industry when it comes to the use of social media platforms and that extreme care should be taken to ensure that an athlete’s good reputation and public image is not tarnished.
ARTICLE BY MARINUS BARNARD: Jnr Associate (LL.B)
For more information kindly contact Marinus Barnard at marinus@rgprok.com or (044) 601 9900.
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Disclaimer
Nothing contained in this publication is to be considered as the rendering of legal advice for specific cases, and readers are responsible for obtaining such advice from their own legal counsel. This publication is intended for educational and informational purposes only.
