Potential lines?

voth26

Well-Known Member
#41
As you just said tho “Small minority”. Saying things like “Hooligans” and “it’s a UK thing” was unnecessary in my opinion. I can name several countries in Europe that are far more hostile than the UK when it comes to hockey. It just felt like he was talking about bloody Millwall fans at one stage!
I've watched the interview again and to be fair I see what you mean, some of the terms used werent really uncalled for. I wonder why JD asked Pope that particular question though??
 

JT666

Active Member
#42
Didn’t Pope’s form noticeably decline as the value of Bitcoin, something I’d guess from his social media presence he’s heavily invested in, plummeted?

Looking at the graph it’s back on its way up, which bodes well if there indeed is a correlation!
 
#43
Personally I thought it was the best interview I've seen in a long time.

How often do we complain about players (in any sport) reading from the same old script and saying the same old things so as not to say anything confidential.

I didn't see any of the abuse Reddick got when he first came here, nor the stuff aimed at Bowns or his girlfiend (now wife). But I did actively go out and search for what Pope was being sent and it was deeply offensive. It would have been bad enough if it came from an opposition fan trying to put him off his game. But from so called Cardiff fans?

The odd thing is that I didn't think he was playing that badly when the abuse started. I checked his points production and it was pretty identical to his first season. It was after the abuse that his point production suddenly dropped, whereas the previous season it kicked on and he scored a goal a game for what seemed forever.

From what I heard he was injured but we couldn't rest him because of the injuries to Haddad and Mosey. Imagine playing through injury for the benefit of the team and instead of being applauded for it you get sent vile abouse via twitter.

Sadly from what has been said on twitter since his re-signing there are some fans who are waiting for him to fail and say "I told you so". The good news is Pope has been in the gym all season so hopefully any injuries he did have are behind him and he'll be able to produce the goods again.
It's not often I agree with Finny, but I think he's nailed it with this post.

I personally thought it was a good interview and Pope seemed to give honest and well thought out answers to the questions JD was asking as opposed to boring generic ones. I thought it was maybe a little bit risky of JD to ask the question, which has now caused so much debate.

It might have been a little bit upsetting to hear for some fans, but it's the truth. We all have opinions on players but directly abusing them and tagging them in stuff is a step too far. Pope played through injury for the team last year (as did others) and he just took a load of stick for it. The way some "fans" went after him was absolutely disgusting, and I'm not at all surprised that (if Finnys workings out are correct) his production slumped.

There's absolutely loads of things that we as fans would have no idea about. Playing through injury being one of them, but also the type of role a player might be required to play under the coaches orders. Often, if people knew the whole story, it could give a totally different opinion of a player.

Just as a point about Reddick and Bowns, didn't they both do a filmed interview to raise awareness of bullying or something like that and opened up about some of the terrible experiences they've had from fans?
 
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Devil94

Well-Known Member
#44
Those people angry at Pope for what he said should actually take in to consideration what he said instead of instantly being offended.
He said he's played in 7 different countries/leagues, and hasn't experienced anything like that from fans anywhere else. Surely that's worrying and means that he actually has a valid point?
 

august04

Well-Known Member
#45
Those people angry at Pope for what he said should actually take in to consideration what he said instead of instantly being offended.
He said he's played in 7 different countries/leagues, and hasn't experienced anything like that from fans anywhere else. Surely that's worrying and means that he actually has a valid point?
We’re no different to any other fan base in any other sport. We have the good, the bad and the ugly! With the advent of social media, every fan base will have the odd moron who takes things too far. That doesn’t make it acceptable but I’m afraid it’s inevitable these days. Personally I try to stay off it, that way I don’t see much or say anything. It’s not a “UK hooligan type of thing”. It happens everywhere in every sport. Even in the EIHL, take a look at the abuse Blair Riley has taken from a small minority of Giants fans and the professional way he’s responded. And I bet he hasn’t engaged in abusive tweets in the past, directed towards a fellow professional either. It’s a little hypocritical frankly and I’m getting a bit sick of our fan base, who for the most part are as good as they come in UK hockey, being tarred with this brush again in interviews like this.
 
#46
So how many more players to come in?
Defence wise is it a given that Richardson and Reddick will be back?
Which if my math is right, we still need 2 more D men with Mosey out long term.
And with 3 new forwards announced, does that just leave 2 more forwards, from Bentie, Mo, Ulmer, Livingstone, Heddon or new player.
And of course a spare?..
I would be interested in people’s thoughts.
 

Devil94

Well-Known Member
#47
It’s a little hypocritical frankly and I’m getting a bit sick of our fan base, who for the most part are as good as they come in UK hockey, being tarred with this brush again in interviews like this.
I'm getting a bit sick of a 3rd devils player in the last year coming out publicly saying that the abuse they are receiving from their OWN fans is getting too much.
 

Earnie

Well-Known Member
#48
I'm getting a bit sick of a 3rd devils player in the last year coming out publicly saying that the abuse they are receiving from their OWN fans is getting too much.
Last season it shamefully did happen . Nothing wrong with the interview at all.
Hopefully this season certain fans will think before they post items on here that upset players, management and owners.
 

jenks33

Well-Known Member
#49
Last season it shamefully did happen . Nothing wrong with the interview at all.
Hopefully this season certain fans will think before they post items on here that upset players, management and owners.
I disagree with you when you say "Post items on here". Nobody will change my mind that fans should be allowed to criticise players on a fans forum. I don't mean fans should be allowed to post personal abuse or go over the top but just criticising a player is fair game in my opinion.
Copying players into criticism/abuse on twitter/facebook is going too far though.
 

SteveKing

Well-Known Member
#50
Just for the record, I do agree with those that are saying that this is not just a Devils problem with offside social media comments. This is a society thing. For current players, it can feel like it is a Devils thing just from the pure fact that the full impact of social media has only been felt over the last few years so they wouldn't have felt it previously in their career since it just didn't exist yet. It is most certainly everywhere now. Everyone - players, fans, management - are just going to have to get used to it and deal with it. I'm not excusing those that make offside comments and tag players but there is no way to control it and it should not paint the rest of the fan base with their stupidity.

Had a great time with Todd, Lordo and Marty at my place. We're so lucky to have people of that calibre associated with our club. The squad is looking great for this year in my opinion. We'll be a little younger, a little faster, a little more physical. Should be a very entertaining season.
 

Swarley

Well-Known Member
#51
Those people angry at Pope for what he said should actually take in to consideration what he said instead of instantly being offended.
He said he's played in 7 different countries/leagues, and hasn't experienced anything like that from fans anywhere else. Surely that's worrying and means that he actually has a valid point?
I fully agree with you but labeling the UK hockey fans as a whole as hooligans is something that makes me personally ashamed to be a fan as well as annoyed that as a normal fan who has a bit of a laugh with some of the players I'm labelled as a hooligan.

I think pope could of picked his words more carefully when he was going to say something about the trashy fans who have given abuse.

It's done with now though so it's just a case of moving on and trying to prove him wrong in the sense that we ain't a bunch of hooligans.
 
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Finny

Well-Known Member
#52
I fully agree with you but labeling the UK hockey fans as a whole as hooligans is something that makes me personally ashamed to be a fan as well as annoyed that as a normal fan who has a bit of a laugh with some of the players I'm labelled as a hooligan.

I think pope could of picked his words more carefully when he was going to say something about the trashy fans who have given abuse.

It's done with now though so it's just a case of moving on and trying to prove him wrong in the sense that we ain't a bunch of hooligans.
But he didn’t label U.K. hockey fans as a whole as hooligans. Perhaps you should rewatch the interview.

I’m in no way offended by the comments because I know they don’t relate to myself or any of my friends.

Worth pointing out too how complimentary he was about the Devils fans at home and away and how good their support is?

The odd thing is that those who I’ve seen be most offended by Pope’s comments were the ones criticising him last season. Happy to dish it out by name but get all precious when he takes a swipe back? What a bunch of hypocrites.
 

matbur

Well-Known Member
#54
I think hockey fans in this country generally need to take a step back and take a hard look at themselves. Please note my use of the word 'generally' because there are some very decent people following the sport, but since I've got more involved with UK hockey, I've found the community to be very cliquey - this is including sections of our own fanbase, sadly. The hockey community professes to have this special 'hockey family' thing going on when it suits, especially around Pride, but I repeatedly keep seeing comments online with a real tone of hatred and bitterness in them; please don't try and pass it off as banter as much of it isn't banter, and if you insist it is, you should perhaps familiarise yourself with the precise definition of the word.

This type of thing does does indeed manifest itself throughout society of course, but I definitely feel it is more concentrated in hockey.

This has single-handedly been the most disappointing thing since I have noticed since deciding to actively follow UK ice-hockey.

Not trying to troll or provoke an argument, and I'm happy to debate this, but I do get where Pope is coming from with this.
 

Swarley

Well-Known Member
#55
I think hockey fans in this country generally need to take a step back and take a hard look at themselves. Please note my use of the word 'generally' because there are some very decent people following the sport, but since I've got more involved with UK hockey, I've found the community to be very cliquey - this is including sections of our own fanbase, sadly. The hockey community professes to have this special 'hockey family' thing going on when it suits, especially around Pride, but I repeatedly keep seeing comments online with a real tone of hatred and bitterness in them; please don't try and pass it off as banter as much of it isn't banter, and if you insist it is, you should perhaps familiarise yourself with the precise definition of the word.

This type of thing does does indeed manifest itself throughout society of course, but I definitely feel it is more concentrated in hockey.

This has single-handedly been the most disappointing thing since I have noticed since deciding to actively follow UK ice-hockey.

Not trying to troll or provoke an argument, and I'm happy to debate this, but I do get where Pope is coming from with this.
See I get where pope is coming from but I really don't agree with the term hooligan being used, that's my only issue with it.
 

Temme

Well-Known Member
#56
See I get where pope is coming from but I really don't agree with the term hooligan being used, that's my only issue with it.
I'm much the same.

Wrong word used.

If there's one thing that will provoke an idiot into further idiocy, it's coming out in an interview and basically saying they're hooligans (he beat around the bush a little bit with the way he worded it, but you get my point).

It must be incredibly difficult as a pro athlete to be under the microscope so much, but it's part of the job description.

There's much better ways of endearing your self to the more opinionated fans than using the word hooligans.


More mature would be to say something like "I battled through injury, it was a tough year, i'm hoping to come back stronger than ever, It was difficult reading those things online, i haven't experienced that anywhere else i've played hockey but i'm going to prove people i deserve a spot on this roster."


... just my very narrow minded opinion on it :)
 

pjj365

Well-Known Member
#57
I'm much the same.

Wrong word used.

If there's one thing that will provoke an idiot into further idiocy, it's coming out in an interview and basically saying they're hooligans (he beat around the bush a little bit with the way he worded it, but you get my point).

It must be incredibly difficult as a pro athlete to be under the microscope so much, but it's part of the job description.

There's much better ways of endearing your self to the more opinionated fans than using the word hooligans.


More mature would be to say something like "I battled through injury, it was a tough year, i'm hoping to come back stronger than ever, It was difficult reading those things online, i haven't experienced that anywhere else i've played hockey but i'm going to prove people i deserve a spot on this roster."


... just my very narrow minded opinion on it :)
IIRC when he talked about hooligans he widened it beyond him to include friends on other teams who felt the same about some UK hockey supporters

In the UK we tend to equate hooliganism with groups with a football link and physical activity - a link Matt referenced. In truth though a hooligan can be an individual but he is not suggesting it is physical but then maybe ask Ben about face to face aggression

Bowns and Reddick fought back with heartfelt statements - Matt has fought back by his tweets and through this interview. It's a minority - which Matt seems to acknowledge by his praise of the fans

And finally I do not believe he is criticising the comments on here but the vile abuse he has received (along with Ben and Bryce) on Twitter - the two are not the same
 

Ocko

Well-Known Member
#60
It must be incredibly difficult as a pro athlete to be under the microscope so much, but it's part of the job description.
I think here is the problem though. They are pros in terms of they are full time hockey players and certainly act the role here. However they are the equivalent of playing for Barry Town. They are normal blokes who almost made the top level. They mix with normal people, they certainly aren’t celebrities, they don’t have personal staff running their social media so they probably see every criticism and insult as a bit personal.

Outside of the 3k fans in Cardiff no one has a clue who they are in the City - and it is like that everywhere they go. I would imagine they see themselves as normal blokes doing a job - we have a very passionate fan base who live and die by their every move. Some kiss their ass on social media, some get excited about seeing them in the supermarket and some hang onto every mistake but the reality is that they probably find all of it a bit weird and are just here to do a job, earn some money and go home.
 
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