Getting to know our heroes

Us sport obsessives are …well…obsessed. You see, what might seem completely irrational behaviour to a non-obsessive – travelling hundreds of miles to see your boys in the first round of the Cup, committing to memory (without trying) the name of every football league ground, planning years in advance to secure those precious Ashes tickets – is just a natural part of everyday life.  Other sports nuts understand it. To the non-believers this is just plain odd.

Sport obsessives now have a new channel for their passion – Twitter. As a fairly early adopter of the medium, I’ve long advocated it as a source of information that is simply not available elsewhere.

However, the growth of a significant troupe of professional sportsmen microblogging their hearts away has given us access to our ‘heroes’ in a way not imaginable before. As a kid I remember waiting all week for my new copy of Match magazine. Now, kids (and us kids at heart) can find out what footballers, cricketers, golfers and Formula One drivers are up to almost all the time.

Young sportspeople are the most prolific and open. Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere is held up as an example of this new breed. He tells followers everything from his post-match thoughts (often, at the moment, including apologies for the team ‘letting the fans down’!) to his daily routine (who knew that players nap in the early afternoon, lucky devils).

Meanwhile, golfer Rory McIlroy hinted that he might have recovered from his disastrous final round at the Masters by posting a picture of himself with his arm around the eventual winner of the competition – a better sign than any statement or press conference platitude that he was stoical about his defeat.

This is great for fans, but you’ve got to wonder how clubs feel about this. Previously they could control what players said and when they said it, presenting a united front to the media and withholding access to players to control image rights and create an element of mystique around their stars and the club.

Now players are relatively free to comment. No doubt most, if not all, clubs have strict policies in place, but they are no longer able to control them directly: they can only really influence and coerce, and punish when they overstep the line.

What would I advise clubs to do? Well, I’d start with thorough media training which encompasses ‘thinking before you tweet’ as a topic. I’d also set out the rules but make sure they don’t restrict harmless opening up and getting closer to the fans. In days of old players would mingle with fans in local pubs and walk to the ground before a game. This is long gone, but perhaps Twitter is simply filling the gap that was created when ‘our boys’ became millionaire, highly cosseted superstars.  This must be healthy.

Perhaps their tweets are showing that despite their wealth they’re just like you and me. Except for the afternoon naps perhaps.