{"id":97,"date":"2019-04-25T07:49:48","date_gmt":"2019-04-24T23:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/?p=97"},"modified":"2019-04-30T08:07:04","modified_gmt":"2019-04-30T00:07:04","slug":"afl-players-adjusting-to-life-as-a-professional-footballer-and-how-inappropriate-behaviour-spreads-via-web-2-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/2019\/04\/25\/afl-players-adjusting-to-life-as-a-professional-footballer-and-how-inappropriate-behaviour-spreads-via-web-2-0\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL Players: Adjusting to life as a professional footballer and how inappropriate behaviour spreads via Web 2.0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AFL Players – Adjusting to life as a professional footballer and how inappropriate behaviour spreads via Web 2.0<\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Web 2.0 technologies\nsuch as social media platforms have allowed AFL players to interact,\ncommunicate and impact upon the daily lives of fans. This will be discussed by\nexploring what Web 2.0 is and how it used by AFL players today. It was found\nthat the high pressure of playing AFL and the lack of training and education has\nled to male players having incidents involving alcohol, drugs, and sexual assault.\nThese issues are further perpetuated by incidents being spread on social media,\nhaving a detrimental affect to the reputation of players, clubs and the AFL. Web\n2.0 platforms such as Facebook and Instagram allow young fans to\neasily interact and follow AFL players but can be models for inappropriate\nbehavior. These issues will be discussed by analyzing how AFL players use\nsocial media and the impacts upon society when they behave inappropriately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AFL Players: Adjusting to life as a professional footballer and how inappropriate\nbehavior spreads via Web 2.0 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many industries have\nadjusted to Web 2.0 and the Australian Football League (AFL) has embraced new\ntechnologies in order to connect with fans. People can follow AFL players\nonline and many elite sports performers are seen as celebrities (Kelly, &\nHickey, 2007). With this celebrity status comes a highly pressurized environment\nand sometimes male AFL players are seen doing the wrong thing. The\nmisbehaviours of a small number of AFL players continue to make the news (Hickey,\n& Kelly, 2007). This bad behaviour can have a negative affect on the people\nthat follow the AFL players. Web 2.0 platforms\nsuch as Facebook and Instagram allow young fans to easily interact and\nfollow AFL players but can give be models for inappropriate behavior. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Web 2.0\nintroduced us to a completely different landscape when it comes to how we use\nthe internet. The web has become a place where platforms are integrated together\nfor communication and community (Fuchs, 2010, p.768). Existing technologies\nwere taken and made to become places where people could interact with each\nother and collaborate. Services that are most characteristic of Web 2.0 are\nblogs, social media and wiki\u2019s (Aguiton, & Cardon, 2007, p.51). Of these\nsocial media has had a profound affect on society and culture.  Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram allow\npeople to connect in ways never before seen and people use social media to form\nnew social connections (Grudz, Wellman, & Takhteyey, 2011, p.1294). It also\nallows people to form spaces online where people who follow AFL players or\nteams can go and communicate and collaborate together. Web 2.0 can create communities\nand friendships (Aguiton, & Cardon, 2007, p.55) and these friendships can\nextend to the real world. Players can communicate with fans online and then\nwhen fans see them in real life it enhances the experience. However social media\nand Web 2.0 are not always used in good ways and Web 2.0 can be seen as a risk\nto society that will destroy culture (Fuchs, 2010, p.766). It allows AFL\nplayers to share inappropriate content with millions of people instantly and it\ncan spread quickly. Having an audience is power, an AFL audience can advertise their\nproduct (Fuchs, 2010, p.768) and if the product is bad it seems to spread\nfaster. Social spaces are used to produce the qualities of the overall social\nsystem (Fuchs, 2010, p.769). AFL players can control the qualities that are displayed\nonline to society and sometimes these behaviours are inappropriate. The AFL has\nembraced Web 2.0 and social media, but sometimes players display the wrong\nbehaviours. Examples of AFL players behaving inappropriately on social media\nwill be discussed and show the impact it can have on society.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AFL is not just a sport, it is\none of the largest entertainment industries in Australia (Hickey, & Kelly,\n2007, p.5). Millions of people each year go to games and watch on TV which\nmakes the AFL a lucrative business. Australian Rules Football has a long\nhistory and generates revenues of over $640 million dollars per year (Hickey,\n& Kelly, 2007, p.5). Players behaved very differently before the\nintroduction of Web 2.0 and social media. There was no one to share videos on Instagram,\nthere were no team or fan pages on Facebook, and there weren\u2019t paparazzi at\nyour door every minute of the day. Modern day journalists use Twitter, fan\nforums and Facebook to share information with audiences (Sherwood, &\nNicholson, 2013, p.942). Things were different and if players got into trouble\nthen it was rarely reported on or was seen as being cool. In the past the job\nof an AFL footballer was simply to play the game, but it has evolved to be professionals\non and off the field (Hickey, & Kelly, 2007, p.6). This can place a lot of\npressure on players because being a professional requires discipline and not\nevery player can maintain this (Hickey, & Kelly, 2007, p.7). It is obvious\nthat society is changing due to web 2.0 and is creating social problems that\nneed to be solved (Fuchs, 2010, p.767). This is particularly true for the AFL\nand if these social problems are not solved then it can have detrimental effects\non the brand of the AFL. Fuchs (2010) suggests that Web 2.0 was likely created for\nmarketing purposes, a way to sell itself and brand online (Fuchs, 2010, p.767).\nThe AFL has fully embraced this idea and uses social media platforms such as\nFacebook and Instagram to market the game and its players. With this marketing\nand promotion comes more pressure and spotlight on individual players, and this\npressure can lead to inappropriate behaviour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AFL players and teams are very\nactive online through social media these days. For example, I follow Dyson\nHeppell on Instagram who is the captain of the Essendon Football Club. He posts\ndaily updates about his life, his partner, his dog, the gym that he owns, his\nfitness regime, analysis on previous games, his leadership styles, and\npromoting the next game. Web 2.0 has given players like Dyson the chance to\nshare their personal expression online and bring fans closer to them as a\nperson. This is mostly a positive experience for fans as they get an insight\ninto the lives of their favourite players and have a chance to connect with\nthem. Online communities are created to engage with fans (Porter, 2015) and\nthis is another chance for people to see what makes players tick and show that\nthey are humans like the rest of us. Facebook fan pages like the one for the\nEssendon Football Club allow fans to ask the coach and players questions,\ninteract with other fans, and discuss their opinions. It is easy as a fan to\nsee how these interactions make me feel, but what affect does this have on the\nplayers? Today social media actively broadcasts any changes in a person\u2019s life\nor any activities that they have coming up (Thompson, 2008). Fans can see every\nlittle detail that is going on in a player\u2019s life and this can be dangerous. Fans\ncan find out lots of details about players online. These small pieces of information\nare insignificant on their own, but when pieced together they start to show someone\u2019s\nwhole life (Thompson, 2008). AFL players now have a private life and public\nlife (Hickey, & Kelly, 2007). They have the life where they play AFL and the\nlife outside of that. Players should be entitled to privacy, but it is becoming\nincreasingly difficult due to social media. The pressure to perform on-field\ncan lead to bad behaviour off the field (Hickey, & Kelly, 2007) and that\u2019s\nwhere social media can have a negative impact for players. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the high social pedestal\nthat players are put up on they are seen as role models in the community. AFL\nplayers can have a really positive impact toward eradicating sexual assault (Swallow,\n2015) and other social issues like gender equality. Aspiring AFL players look\nup to the players of today and want to be just like them. They follow them on\nsocial media and idolise what they do and who they are. Social media became the\nway that people found out what others were doing (Thompson, 2008) and fans can follow\nthe daily lives of players which paints a picture of how a young person should\nbehave. With this huge responsibility comes the expectation that players will\nbehave correctly. The off-field behaviours of elite sports players are under\npublic scrutiny (Hickey, & Kelly, 2007, p.2) and one wrong move can be\nposted all over social media. When players behave badly, they hurt their own\nreputation, but they also hurt their club and the AFL (Hickey, & Kelly,\n2007, p.2). In late 2018 a video surfaced on social media showing Greater\nWestern Sydney Giants player Shane Mumford snorting a white powder (ABC, 2018).\nThis video spread quickly and had a damaging affect on the reputation of\nMumford and the Giants. They were forced to apologise and informed fans that\nMumford was in rehabilitation and was being supported. More recently Fremantle\nplayer Jesse Hogan was shown on social media in an inebriated state in April\n2019, just four days out from the start of the AFL season (News.com.au, 2019).\nThere was backlash online and the club was forced to suspend Hogan from the first\ngame of the season. These incidents affect society and in particular young\nmales. We need to teach them how to behave correctly and have the right values\nand what they see from AFL players on social media can have a significant\nimpact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reports of AFL players\nbehaving inappropriately are fairly common these days, with videos being shared\non social media, and tweets or comments being scrutinised. Public scandals\ninclude the involvement of sex, drugs, fighting, and drunkenness (Hickey, &\nKelly, 2007, p.4). To give this some context here is an example; In 2006\nCollingwood AFL player Chad Morrison was caught driving a motor scooter with an\nalcohol level of .093. At the time he was fined $314 and had his licence\nsuspended, but as he is a public figure in the community the club was fined\n$200,000 by one of its sponsors and Chad was fined $20,000 by the club and his\ncontract \u201cput on notice\u201d (Hickey, & Kelly, 2007, p.3). Behaving badly can\nhave huge repercussions on a player and club and their social reputation. If a\nyoung person sees a player on the news drunk or taking drugs, then they may\nthink that this is the right thing to do. Social media has propagated these\nincidents and changed the social landscape. When a player behaves badly, they\ngive a public apology and vow to do training and become a better person (Williamson,\n2016). This feels rehearsed and scripted and not very genuine (Williamson,\n2016). It feels more like something that the player has to do and once it is\ndone then everything goes back to normal. This is not how things work in the\nreal world and if a general member of the public behaved the same way they\nwould lose their job (Williamson, 2016). It demonstrates irresponsible behaviour\nand provides inappropriate models for young people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AFL has several policies in\nplace for players and one of them relates to young people. This policy sets out\nthe behaviours required of AFL players towards children and young people (AFL,\n2019). It highlights their responsibility of being role models to young people and\nthe potential impacts their behaviour can have.  Some of the highlights are that AFL players\nshould encourage positive behaviour (AFL, 2019), AFL players should promote\nequality and diversity (AFL, 2019), and AFL players should not accept or request\nto be friends using a personal social media account (AFL, 2019). This shows\nthat players need to be instilling the right values in young people and nurturing\nthem. As young people follow the lives of players on social media, they start to\nform an emotional connection (Grudz, Wellman, & Takhteyey, 2011, p.1311).\nThis connection is important as social media sites allow the creation of two-way\nchannels between AFL players\/teams and fans (Hopkins, 2013). The goal of players\nand teams connecting with fans is to improve the relationship and connection\nthat fans have. AFL teams have implemented social media pages like Facebook, Twitter\nand Instagram to improve the communication they have with fans (Hopkins, 2013).\nThey wanted fans to be more engaged and feel a more personal connection. As team\u2019s\nimprove their social media communication it increases memberships, attendances at\ngames, TV audiences and merchandise sales (Hopkins, 2013). This means more\nmoney and recognition for players and clubs. This is great but needs to be\nbalanced with the social responsibility that players have with young people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early 2000s, there were countless incidents of bad behaviour by players and due to this, there has been a variety of education and training introduced (Hickey, & Kelly, 2007, p.2). The catalyst for the education programs was in 2004 when two players from St Kilda were investigated for an alleged sexual assault (Swallow, 2015). This was the final straw for the AFL, and it was forced to take drastic action. It was easy for all the clubs to get on board with more training and education for players as they wanted to protect themselves and their players. Players are often not aware of how they should behave when they start playing AFL at a young age (Hickey, & Kelly, 2007, p.3). It can all be a bit overwhelming and if left unchecked players can do the wrong thing. Training is provided on an ongoing basis to modern day players surrounding the topics of gambling, drugs and alcohol, racism and harassment, and sexual harassment (Hickey, & Kelly, 2007, p.7). AFL players behaving badly has drawn unwanted attention to the game, but for over 10 years the AFL has been teaching young players about their responsibilities and respect for others (Swallow, 2015). Former players are training young players in a range of topics and one of those is sexual harassment towards women. Young players are presented with education where they are asked: \u201cwhat do you do on a daily basis to avoid sexual assault?\u201d Most of the time the answer is \u201cnothing\u201d. They are then asked, \u201cI want you to go home and ask your sister, mother, or girlfriend what they do on a daily basis to avoid sexual assault\u201d (Swallow, 2015). This is a powerful message and really asks the players to think about how their behaviour affects others. The AFL has another policy in regard to respect and the policy outlines the AFL\u2019s commitment to gender equality (AFL, 2019). Things seem to be going in the right direction for training and education for male AFL players and this can only be a good thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Web 2.0 has introduced a number of ways that AFL players and teams can interact with their fans. Web 2.0 is a place for people to connect, an environment where people can form communities and have discussions (Forman, Kern, & Gil-Egui, 2012). The AFL has embraced this culture and leveraged off it to increase revenue. Social media has introduced ways for players to directly connect with fans and give them an insight into their daily lives. AFL players are seen as celebrities and their actions can have a huge impact on society. Young fans follow AFL players on social media and see them as role models for how they should act. Talent is not the only thing recruiters look for these days, they are also looking at the character of a player and if they think they will stay out of trouble (Hickey, & Kelly, 2007, p.10). The impacts of bad behaviours can be detrimental for clubs and something that they can avoid by choosing the right players. Training and education programs are very common in the AFL today and seem to be having a positive impact. Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram allow young fans to easily interact and follow AFL players but what they see can shape the person they become, what their values are, and how they behave. AFL players have a responsibility to behave correctly and show young people how to be successful and positive members of the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License<\/a>.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abstract Web 2.0 technologies such as social media platforms have allowed AFL players to interact, communicate and impact upon the daily lives of fans. This will be discussed by exploring what Web 2.0 is and how it used by AFL players today. It was found that the high pressure of playing AFL and the lack… Continue reading AFL Players: Adjusting to life as a professional footballer and how inappropriate behaviour spreads via Web 2.0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[28,65,45,8,69,9,67,70,7,68,66,64],"class_list":["post-97","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communities","tag-community","tag-afl","tag-communities","tag-facebook","tag-inappropriate-behaviour","tag-instagram","tag-professional-footballer","tag-role-models","tag-social-media","tag-society","tag-spreadability","tag-web-2-0"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":442,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions\/442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}