The LOI Social Network
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I recently asked a mate of mine does he follow any League of Ireland footballers on Twitter and if so why? He laughed in my face.
‘Why?! Why would I want to ‘follow’ them? They’re just players on a field who represent my club. If they lived next door I’d probably barely speak to them. I’m interested in football and them playing well for us fans, I care as much about what they had for dinner as they do about what I had.’
It reminds me of an analogy that Alfred Hitchcock used to use for actors in his films. He said they were moving props and for any football club players are assets bought and sold, we pay to perform on the pitch.
Twitter of course is like a bad case of herpes infecting the crotch of the world, a bout of which I dare say isn’t going to stop itching any time soon. It is the ‘must-have’ social networking site for any self-proclaimed celebrity which allows them to spew forth the menial details of every second of their existence and have their egos massaged when they are inundated with menial, fluffy replies because ‘followers’ really do care, don’t they?
What sparked our initial conversation was the latest brain wave someone came up with to start printing a Tweet-of–the-Week feature on some of our Irish football stars, including LOI. It’s astonishingly lazy editing, but then again a paper never refuses ink and seemingly a footballer never refuses flattery.
The Twitter microverse has seen a rapid influx of our leagues stars all signing up and joining in the banter now with the dazzlingly opportunity to make Tweet-of-the-Week and ‘make it’ in the ridiculous Twitter celeb culture.
When I think of League of Ireland stars there are a few players who stand out to me and it has nothing to do with ‘celebrity’. Twiggy is a LOI star and whether you are Rovers or you can’t stand us, it’s an undeniable fact. For the last two years he has been the league’s top scorer, he’s also played in a foreign league which just adds to that star aura and he is pretty much the poster boy for Shamrock Rovers.
Damian Lynch at St. Pat’s last year is another fine example of someone with ‘star’ quality we had in the league. Besides having a successful full time career in PR (I have worked with the guy) he also managed to balance that with captaining a premier club all the while looking out for his Mrs and their child. It’s hard to think of anyone who could match him as an all round role model for players and fans alike. Hardworking lad, priorities in the right place and his head screwed on.
But neither are gossip column materials. When Twiggy got married last year I can’t say I saw him selling the pictures to VIP magazine, or rather I didn’t hear of them offering to buy them! He is our LOI star but he is also a normal bloke and it is this that endears our stars to us.
The thing about Irish ‘celebs’ is that for the most part they’re not ‘celebs’ in the true sense of the word. As far as I’m concerned if you’re getting up every day wiping your ass with €500 notes and have your face plastered in the media then yeah, you probably make the cut. But there is a big difference between that and simply being well known. It’s showmanship and nothing else. Reminds me of when people left the country years ago, were piss poor in the States but rang home making out they were living the life of Reilly. Yeah, the grass is always greener generally because it’s fertilized with bullshit.
Only a few years ago we were throwing money around in the league. Riding on the wave of credit money was being pissed into the wind on some of our then big players. Big money when there still weren’t big crowds. But why did we do this? And why are we trying to make ‘celebs’ out of our leagues footballers? Because that’s what they do in England. When you strip it back and you look at it for what it is, it’s just a really bad case of Keeping up with the Jones except over here it just never really pans out.
In a way I can understand why footballers tweet. It must be nice to be reassured after a bad game or to get positive feedback from supporters when you’re not at your best. All part and parcel of creating a nice warm (if entirely superficial) feel to your Twitter-microverse. But for every message of support out there, there’s plenty not so caring. Just look at how quickly some people were to criticise Twiggy for taking off his shirt a few weeks back.
If I was a manager would I want my players on Twitter? Would I want them taking on the added criticism or letting themselves open to prying gossip column eyes? Probably not, but I suppose that comes from my own negative experiences of the site.
But at the end of the day I think Twitter does only one thing for our stars - it makes them shine less brightly.
‘Why?! Why would I want to ‘follow’ them? They’re just players on a field who represent my club. If they lived next door I’d probably barely speak to them. I’m interested in football and them playing well for us fans, I care as much about what they had for dinner as they do about what I had.’
It reminds me of an analogy that Alfred Hitchcock used to use for actors in his films. He said they were moving props and for any football club players are assets bought and sold, we pay to perform on the pitch.
Twitter of course is like a bad case of herpes infecting the crotch of the world, a bout of which I dare say isn’t going to stop itching any time soon. It is the ‘must-have’ social networking site for any self-proclaimed celebrity which allows them to spew forth the menial details of every second of their existence and have their egos massaged when they are inundated with menial, fluffy replies because ‘followers’ really do care, don’t they?
What sparked our initial conversation was the latest brain wave someone came up with to start printing a Tweet-of–the-Week feature on some of our Irish football stars, including LOI. It’s astonishingly lazy editing, but then again a paper never refuses ink and seemingly a footballer never refuses flattery.
The Twitter microverse has seen a rapid influx of our leagues stars all signing up and joining in the banter now with the dazzlingly opportunity to make Tweet-of-the-Week and ‘make it’ in the ridiculous Twitter celeb culture.
When I think of League of Ireland stars there are a few players who stand out to me and it has nothing to do with ‘celebrity’. Twiggy is a LOI star and whether you are Rovers or you can’t stand us, it’s an undeniable fact. For the last two years he has been the league’s top scorer, he’s also played in a foreign league which just adds to that star aura and he is pretty much the poster boy for Shamrock Rovers.
Damian Lynch at St. Pat’s last year is another fine example of someone with ‘star’ quality we had in the league. Besides having a successful full time career in PR (I have worked with the guy) he also managed to balance that with captaining a premier club all the while looking out for his Mrs and their child. It’s hard to think of anyone who could match him as an all round role model for players and fans alike. Hardworking lad, priorities in the right place and his head screwed on.
But neither are gossip column materials. When Twiggy got married last year I can’t say I saw him selling the pictures to VIP magazine, or rather I didn’t hear of them offering to buy them! He is our LOI star but he is also a normal bloke and it is this that endears our stars to us.
The thing about Irish ‘celebs’ is that for the most part they’re not ‘celebs’ in the true sense of the word. As far as I’m concerned if you’re getting up every day wiping your ass with €500 notes and have your face plastered in the media then yeah, you probably make the cut. But there is a big difference between that and simply being well known. It’s showmanship and nothing else. Reminds me of when people left the country years ago, were piss poor in the States but rang home making out they were living the life of Reilly. Yeah, the grass is always greener generally because it’s fertilized with bullshit.
Only a few years ago we were throwing money around in the league. Riding on the wave of credit money was being pissed into the wind on some of our then big players. Big money when there still weren’t big crowds. But why did we do this? And why are we trying to make ‘celebs’ out of our leagues footballers? Because that’s what they do in England. When you strip it back and you look at it for what it is, it’s just a really bad case of Keeping up with the Jones except over here it just never really pans out.
In a way I can understand why footballers tweet. It must be nice to be reassured after a bad game or to get positive feedback from supporters when you’re not at your best. All part and parcel of creating a nice warm (if entirely superficial) feel to your Twitter-microverse. But for every message of support out there, there’s plenty not so caring. Just look at how quickly some people were to criticise Twiggy for taking off his shirt a few weeks back.
If I was a manager would I want my players on Twitter? Would I want them taking on the added criticism or letting themselves open to prying gossip column eyes? Probably not, but I suppose that comes from my own negative experiences of the site.
But at the end of the day I think Twitter does only one thing for our stars - it makes them shine less brightly.
