Now, the mobile phone has to be in the modern athlete’s kit bag.
The first batch of items is needed to play on the pitch, grass, court or oval. And the phone is crucial to playing a whole new ball game in post-match time.
Social media is the new plaything in world sport. But sportspeople aren’t just using Twitter and Facebook to send nice messages to friends. They’ve become a virtual world soapbox on which athletes are making a stand.
The past few days have highlighted the influence of Twitter and how athletes are using it to make a point to the world or push their own brand – or both. It has become a weapon for athletes because they don’t have to go through a middle man to get their point across – just type in 140 characters, point the phone and shoot.
Take Melbourne Tigers NBL player Corey “Homicide” Williams. Last week he and officials from the Perth Wildcats conducted a slanging match through Twitter.
Williams defaced a picture of a Wildcats player at Challenge Stadium following a practice session. Normally, such an issue would have been dealt with through the proper channels – or at least that would have been the sportspeak that clubs love to use when they make public a complaint without having to actually declare their rage.
Not this time.
