Twitter Watch:That International rugby has discovered Twitter is a boon for wired fans, but for novice tweep Mary Hannigan, the humdrum banality of much of their 140-characters-or-less musings is simultaneously tragic, comic and farcical
DONNCHA O’CALLAGHAN, when asked last year about the number of his Irish teammates whose partners were having babies, said: “Ah yeah, it’s like everything, it kind of goes in cycles – when the iPhone came out first, everyone wanted one.”
Well, after iPhones and babies, apparently the next must-have is a Twitter account, with most of the Irish squad now to be found in the Twittersphere. Brian O’Driscoll, Tommy Bowe, Andrew Trimble and Jamie Heaslip are among the established tweeters. Rob Kearney – or “handsome” as his admiring team-mates address him – is the latest recruit.
Alas, the twittering novelty, which limits messages to 140 characters, wears off quickly enough for some. Ronan O’Gara (“Training in UCC Farm today, nice day for it”) last tweeted in September and Paul O’Connell (“6 out of 23 in table quiz. better than expected”) gave up last April.
Some, though, are hooked – none more so than voracious tweeter, Bowe. Last month, for those unaware that he had been rested by his club, it seemed that he was tweeting as he walked off the pitch at the RDS after the first half of the Magners League game against Leinster: “Great to be going in ahead at half time! Can’t wait for second half. Come on Ospreys!”
Mind you, some coaches are now so exasperated by their twittering players, they probably wouldn’t be hugely surprised if they updated their followers bang in the middle of games, perhaps asking the referee to delay a scrum while they pulled their phones out of their shorts and typed: “15-3 up, 20 mins 2 ht, lads playin gr8.”
England coach Martin Johnson is one of those who is not a fan. His chief concern is that his players will reveal tactics or team selections for all the world – and the opposing coach – to see. He told the BBC recently that if any of his charges were caught offside on Twitter they “might not be an England player for long”. Would he, at any point, start tweeting himself? “Don’t hold your breath,” he replied.
Among those at whom Johnson’s warning was most probably directed was James Haskell, who got into a spot of bother in the past for tweeting that he was “gutted” to be left out of a squad. It was a sobering experience for Haskell too. “What you’ve got to realise with Twitter is that you can make a comment like ‘I love trees’ and someone out there will be offended,” he sighed.
Leicester’s Jordan Crane was another to get himself into trouble when he announced on Twitter last year that an ankle injury would keep him out of action for “three long months”. “He is banned from tweeting,” said Leicester director of rugby, Richard Cockerill. “The next time he does that, I will break both his ankles. None of our players will be tweeting or facebooking anything about Leicester Rugby Club ever again.”
Fortunately for Heaslip his Leinster coach, Joe Schmidt, is a bit more relaxed about the whole business, conceding that he’s a “dinosaur dad” when it comes to this twittering lark, but refusing to get too upset with the player for tweeting the night before that an ankle injury would rule him out of the European Cup game against Saracens.
“I don’t know how he let people know,” he said. “Was he tweeting or something? That technology is beyond me but I can ask my kids what was happening. No, it was of no annoyance to me, but you can damage yourself revealing something that is inappropriate. So I guess to be proactive maybe we should have a bit of a chat about.”
New Zealand coach Graham Henry was similarly forgiving in 2009 when two of his players, Cory Jane and Neemia Tialata, revealed on Twitter they had been left out of the team that was playing England at Twickenham.
“It’s not a major thing, is it?” he said. “I will have a quiet word with them tomorrow, but it won’t be six of the cane. I had to find out what bloody Twitter was; I thought he was the new five-eighth playing for England.
On the whole, though, the players confine themselves to harmless banter, or in Cian Healy’s case revealing what tune he’s listening to at the time: “Roxanne..... you don’t have to put on the red liiiiiight!!!”. Or what he’s eating: “first creme egg of the year! it was delish!!!”
Occasionally they pay tribute to colleagues. Darren Cave to Paddy Wallace: “Remember it’s hard to soar like an eagle when surrounded by turkeys, look at you past 2 seasons at Ulster!”.
Or they reveal who they bumped in to while out on the town as did Brian O’Driscoll recently (see photo with Shane McGowan – O’Driscoll is on the right, lest there be any confusion).
And some share unique observations, like Kearney: “I see lots of similarities between Brian Cowen and Silvio Berlusconi.” He didn’t go into detail, though, which is the problem with Twitter’s 140-character limit.
Happily, Kearney seems to have had no problems in his early Twitter days, unlike former England cricketer Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff, who tried to send his phone number to one of his Twitter pals, but accidentally sent it to all 77,000 of his followers, most of whom appeared to ring him up and leave a message. “Seems it’s time for a new number – thanks for all the calls,” he said.
The best tweets, though, are the informative ones, the ones that give us an insight into the lives of professional rugby players. Take, for example, this exchange between two Welsh players in which one revealed how strictly he was following his rehabilitation regime following injury. Shane Williams: “Hey hey Shanks! How are you pal?”
Tom Shanklin: “All good mate. just out of hospital, Resting up in bed with a can of Stella.” That’s what Martin Johnson calls a “loose tweet”.
