Ireland International Received Death Threats Following Rugby World Cup Exit
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Not on.
Ireland international winger Jacob Stockdale has revealed he received death threats following Ireland’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final exit to the All Blacks last year.
The men in green largely disappointed once again on the world’s stage last year, losing to tournament hostd Japan in the pool stage before being comprehinsivley beaten by New Zealand in the knockout stages.
Stockdale struggled for form in 2019 following a record-breaking 2018 but the abuse he has revealed is simply not on and completely uncalled for in a sport that prides itself on respect.
Speaking to the Irish Times, Stockdale described the messages which were sent to him via social media as “incredibly hurtful” and frustrating.
“You get certain messages, private messages and stuff that are incredibly hurtful or aggressive,” Stockdale said.
After the New Zealand quarter-final I got messages from people telling me to kill myself and things like that, which is obviously awful.
“For me whenever I was reading those messages, they didn’t annoy me as much because I knew these people were trolls and they were just trying to get a reaction out of me. I’m sure… I’d hope they didn’t actually mean what they were saying.
“Funny enough the ones that really annoyed me were the ones where people were saying that I wasn’t any good at rugby.
They were frustrating because I felt they didn’t know as much about rugby as I did. It felt that they really meant it [the criticism] and those would be the ones that would annoy me more than the people messaging me and telling me to top myself.
“If I was sick I would ask a doctor what was wrong with me but I wouldn’t walk up the street and ask a ‘randomer’ what he thought.”
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