Compiled by PHILIP REID

Digging deep in dumb and dumber world of twitter

THERE WAS a time when you could feel a touch of sympathy for someone who uttered the wrong word at the wrong time, especially if they were misinterpreted. It was called putting your foot in your mouth and, more often than not, the explanation or apology or clarification subsequently offered was sufficient to mend whatever damage was done.

That was then, this is now: the age of twitter. In just over five years, the social media has become a valuable tool for communication. It has been powerful enough to galvanise uprisings in the Middle East and effective enough to launch a charity single – Winter’s Song – for neonatal wards in Holles Street.

It can be a force for good and for fun. Mainly.

If used recklessly, though, it can damaging and even ruinous to reputations. Oh so damaging. Sports people don’t have a monopoly on stupidity with reckless use of the social media tool but there is sufficient evidence in recent times they rank towards the higher end of foolish tweets rather than towards the bottom.

With many incidents resulting in fines, suspensions, etc, there have even been reports of many leading sports figures hiring social-media experts to avoid mishaps which is a little mind-blowing it must be said.

After all, you could possibly pardon someone for opening their mouth too quickly, but it takes time and a little consideration to type out a tweet, even if the message is restricted to only 140 characters. In fact, that brevity should make it easier: the fewer the words, the simpler the message to understand, you would think.

Not so, it would seem.

One of the latest incidents concerned the Wales assistant manager Raymond Verhejjen who moved a tad too swiftly in urging the Football Association of Wales to appoint him as team manager just days after the burial of Gary Speed, a victim of suicide.

Verhejjen – who has established a strong international reputation in coaching having worked with the Netherlands, Russia, South Korea and most recently Wales – posted an ill-judged tweet which urged the board to “respect Gary’s wish” so that he could lead the team’s qualification programme for Brazil 2014.

“There is no need for a new manager with new ideas. Our success was based on Gary’s clear structure. Everybody knows what to do for mission Brazil 2014.”

Insensitive in its timing and ill-judged in terms of advocating his own candidacy to succeed Speed, the tweet may prove to have the opposite effect and rule Verhejjen out of getting the job before the FAW get around to appointing a successor to Speed which will apparently take place early in the new year.

Of course, Vehejjen’s ability to hit the send button before the brain has fully engaged with the actual message – one that up to 200 registered users of twitter can access – is not unique. In fact, quite a number of sportsmen have fallen victims to their own impetuosity with American footballer Rashard Mendenhall making arguably the stupidest tweet of the sporting year to deliver his opinion on 9/11 shortly after the capture of Osama Bin Laden.

Mendenhall – who could yet be seen in Croke Park if the mooted American Football at the stadium involves the Pittsburgh Steelers – tweeted he had “a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style”. The post was quickly deleted, but not before the damage was done. The ensuing controversy over his tweet led to sports manufacturers Champion finishing a lucrative endorsement deal, claiming Menhenhall could no long “appropriately represent” them.

If Mendenhall’s text was dumb, those sent earlier this year by two Scottish youth footballers were at the sinister end. After it emerged a parcel bomb had been sent to Celtic manager Neil Lennon, two rather nondescript players voiced their approval. Kieran Bowell of Berwick Rangers and Max McKee of Clyde were swiftly sacked by their respective clubs.

In the dumb and dumber world of twitter, there are times when the fingers move too fast for the brain.

Nobody, though, could accuse former English hooker Brian Moore of lacking intelligence. He is, after all, a trained lawyer. Still, he was forced to close his twitter account earlier this year after becoming embroiled in online controversies over his sense of humour which involved tasteless jokes relating to Down’s Syndrome and homophobia.

On second thoughts, maybe the idea of some guidance from social-media experts wouldn’t be a bad thing for some sportsmen.

Angry Ainslie lands in hot water

YOU’D HAVE thought Ben Ainslie – a three-time Olympic gold medallist, a nine-time world champion and nine-time European champion – would know better than to jump out of his boat and then swim through choppy waters in Perth to remonstrate with a TV crew who he believed had cost him time and position in his Finn class at the World Sailing Championships.

The upshot of Ainslie’s actions – being disqualified from the championships for “gross misconduct” – could have been worse: he could have received a two-year ban, which would have ruled him out of next year’s London Olympics for which he had been pre-selected by the British ahead of the world championships. Instead, all he lost was a medal.

It is easy to be understanding of Ainslie’s reaction if not his actual actions. As an elite sailor, his typical training involves six days a week. A typical day involves aerobic work or weights followed by sailing anywhere between two to five hours and finishing off with more physical training. And for his quest for another world championship title to be unhinged by a boat with a TV crew getting too close – all part of the attempt to make sailing a sexier sport for television – led to him losing it.

Of course, the sailor isn’t the first – and won’t be the last – sportsperson to lose the cool and feel hard done by.

Remember sprinter Jon Drummond in the 2003 World Athletic Championships in Paris? Disqualified for a false start, Drummond – known as the Clown Prince – sat down on the track and held up the championships for 50 minutes as he disputed his disqualification.

And, in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, locak South Korean boxer Byun Jong sat in the middle of the ring after losing a contentious points decision and led to the New Zealand referee ducking chairs and other such items as he made an escorted exit from the stadium.

It’s ironic, though, that the ISAF’s bid to make sailing more dramatic to the viewer by getting TV boats closer to the action had the upshot which brought the sport to a wider audience for all the wrong reasons.

Munster GAA board on steady grounds

WITH NEGLIGIBLE action on the GAA playing front these days, much of the action in darkest winter moves to conventions and reports and such like. In that regard, the past week has been a good one with the decision of the Cork County Board not to proceed with its previous plan to turn Páirc Uí Chaoimh into a super-sized stadium with a capacity of 50,000-60,000.

Instead, especially in these economic climes, the decision to revamp the ground – leaving the capacity at just under 44,000 – will give players and spectators the facilities they deserve without breaking the bank.

Of all the provinces, Munster is best equipped – across the province – with the quality of its stadiums: the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick, Semple Stadium in Thurles and Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney offer strong alternatives in terms of staging grounds and arguably with better accessibility than the ground by the river Lee.

Also, with the advent of the backdoor in hurling and football, the days of any Munster final attracting up to 60,000 are long gone. The move to keep the capacity at its current level makes sense, both financially and in terms of belatedly giving the paying customer the desired standard of ground for their buck.

Wisdom, and a dose of common sense, has prevailed on this one.

And not for the first time either. Remember how the Cork Board moved to buy the old Flower Lodge – the old heartbeat of soccer in the city and now transformed in Páirc Uí Rinn – from under the noses of the FAI?

What a difference a few months make

LUKE DONALD has been world number one since May and looks set to hold the ranking well into 2012 but the Englishman was rated no better than a 50 to 1 chance to top the European Tour’s order of merit in February. The odds of him winning both money titles – on the US Tour and the European Tour, which he did – would have made for a nice windfall.

Golf’s majors this past year were like manna from heaven for the bookmakers: Charl Schwartzel was 125 to 1 for the US Masters, Darren Clarke an even longer 175 to 1 for the British Open and Keegan Bradley available at 175 to 1 ahead of the US PGA. The shortest prized major winner was Rory McIlroy, priced at odds around the 20 to 1 mark ahead of the US Open.

'Quins take Care to do the right thing

NO ONE would begrudge anyone the chance to let their hair down – within reason – after savouring success on the sporting pitch, but there is a line that shouldn’t be crossed and it seems rugby players are finding it harder than most sporting professionals to get that message.

In the past week we’ve had Harlequins’ English international scrumhalf Danny Care arrested for being drunk and disorderly following his side’s defeat in the Heineken Cup to Toulouse, and we’ve also the fallout to All Black Zac Guildford’s post-World Cup winning drunken rampage in the Cook Islands.

Guildford’s punishment – an innocuous suspension which sees him miss three pre-season matches for his club and just one competitive game – would have been much heavier but for the fact he was subject to a players’ collective agreement which forced the hand of the New Zealand Rugby Union in their inquiry. It hardly sends out the right message, though, which is that these elite rugby players are role models.

At least Harlequins’ approach in swiftly sanctioning Care – his club making an example of him by getting him to deliver a personal cheque to a cancer charity as part of his punishment – is a step in the right direction.