Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 11 May 2022
Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media
Elimination of Abuse Directed Toward Referees, Officials, and Players in Sport: Discussion
Ms Mary O'Connor:
It is about these individuals being aware of their responsibilities. If they are a member of a club or an NGB and they see something on social media, they should not repeat or share it because that would be endorsing bad behaviours and so on. The Olympic Federation of Ireland had a campaign last year called Don't Scroll By. If these individuals see something, they should call it out. That is important as well. For example, if I was in Mr. Gash's club and I saw him producing inappropriate behaviour, I would have to hold him to account. Recommendation 6 relates to the social media policies around how we portray ourselves as sports organisations, as well as how our club PROs portray the sport and the organisation. Sometimes on social media platforms you will see a club PRO making fault at a referee's decision, a coach's decision or a player's decision. We believe they should refrain from doing that because that is all part of the abuse. It is a passive-aggressive style but it has an impact. If you go on Twitter after high-profile GAA games, you can see that one player is always singled out and people-----
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