Twitter can bring best out of game

Seven days in football can sometimes last a lifetime. The seven days between Waterford United’s defeat to Wexford Youths and the win against Limerick seemed to go on and on for their fans. There looked to be no end in sight when they could finally move on from the unexpected hammering. Twitter, Facebook and message boards were a distinct reminder of the 6-0 defeat to Wexford Youths.

That seven-day period can lead us to madness. We can over think everything. The result. The club. The performance. The players.

We can bring ourselves into a strange and unrealistic mindset that can become reality.  We get into many arguments about where it all went wrong. Twitter has become a very real vocal point for many of these.

Ten years ago we would see League of Ireland players at matches every weekend and have no interaction whatsoever with them. The next match would come and we would see them again, though we would seldom talk to the team about a match.

The growing emergence of twitter in the last year or so has seen that all change. We now see League of Ireland players having full-blown conversations on twitter, a strange sight, but now not overly surprising.

Twitter has allowed us to see our players and other teams’ players on twitter, with every team represented in some shape or form on the social networking site. The explosion of twitter across the world has seen the League of Ireland trying to keep up. Journalists are also now on twitter, discussing the main talking points of the previous week with players, fans and other journalists.

With many Waterford United and Wexford Youths fans and players on twitter, it led to a strange week following that defeat. Fans traded banter while players had to deal with unhappy fans. But that is really what twitter is about. Twitter is about interaction, fans talking to fans, fans talking to players.

Youths’ fans appeared out of nowhere to join in the banter with their players, along with the expected onslaught to Blues’ fans about their big win.

Twitter needs to be taken with a pinch of salt though. People say things on the spur of the moment, without thinking beforehand and without thinking of what others will think. Most of the time we may not agree.

We post our reaction to games and players, but this can often lead to some debate, which is the really brilliant feature of twitter. It allows fans to debate; to voice their thoughts on the game, the players, the referees and pretty much anything they want.

Speaking to players is also a great added plus of the twitter boom. We can ask players questions, get their opinions, ask about matches, ask about their performance and ask about the team. This brings players closer to fans, and fans closer to football.

At the end of the day, fans are the backbone to every League of Ireland club. Their money is what goes to pay the wages of these players. This interaction allows players to play a more prominent position in our football clubs.

Ill informed people spouting their opinion can be frustrating at times for everyone, but they are just as entitled to their own opinions on their games. If we don’t agree, then interact and debate. Use twitter for what it’s there for.

With Twitter still a relatively new medium, clubs across Ireland are beginning to introduce guidelines about what players can post online - following on from English teams. Glentoran striker Leon Knight was recently given a three-match ban by the Northern Irish FA for comments he made on twitter.

Twitter is now used as a tool for interaction but also as a way to inform. Information about matches, events and news are now easily communicated on twitter to all followers while also allowing clubs to update matches and get message across to fans. We’ve even seen League of Ireland clubs communicate with teams in the north regarding Setanta Cup matches.

Twitter is now part of our everyday life and we must embrace it. It is here to stay and we should use it for our benefit. Players, fans and our clubs coming closer together is a good thing, we just have to manage it carefully.