Support Bownsy

[Leecalaway]

Just heard that Ben Bowns has come off twitter due to abusive remarks and bullying from “so called” fans.
There is absolutely no call for this within the Cardiff Devils fan base. I have always felt very welcome at IAW and all the other arenas I have visited and find Ice Hockey the most sportsmanlike sport there is.
My hope is that this has been caused by a small minority of our fan base…..you know the ones who leave before the end of a losing game instead of giving our guys the ovation and appreciation they deserve.
This behaviour is not the Red Army I love, come on guys, we’re better than this.
Bownsy is a legend in this club and deserves more respect. Let’s all restore faith in our fanbase by rallying round with support for Bownsy.
This Wednesday, I will be giving a standing ovation in Support when Bownsy is announced…..who is joining me?

 

[Kevlar68]

I'm totally against any form of abuse, crticise yes, abuse no.
Are these real devils fans? We've had similar before from fake accounts set up as though devils fan.

 

[Kevin roog]

there was a lady on Twitter said Todd has also come off social media, not sure myself

 

[BostonBart22]

Shocking behaviour, glad I don't do twitter or Facebook, it could be fans from another club winding him up, not good is it .

 

[Kevin roog]

Twitter is a load of crap, it’s normally people saying “safe journey home guys, love you, miss you” and then one of those childish photos, not seen much abuse apart from some Burnett guy constantly slagging off bowns

 

[drainage]

I'm totally against any form of abuse, crticise yes, abuse no.
Are these real devils fans? We've had similar before from fake accounts set up as though devils fan.

One person has admitted he was wrong to tweet what he did , I have seen other comments from people I know to be Devils fans. Not saying there aren’t fake accounts but comments are definitely coming from known Devils fans

 

[drainage]

Twitter is a load of crap, it’s normally people saying “safe journey home guys, love you, miss you” and then one of those childish photos, not seen much abuse apart from some Burnett guy constantly slagging off bowns

To be fair he owned it and publicly acknowledged he was wrong ….. that takes some b**ls. I have seen comments from both newish and long standing fans everyone is entitled to express their views but not in a way that’s detrimental to a players well being (and let’s be fair his loved ones can see it) and causes them to ditch SM to avoid seeing it.

 

[august04 2.0]

I don’t understand why any player would want to be on Twitter. You’re just opening yourself up to inevitable criticism or even worse, abuse.

 

[Wannabe2]

This is disgusting, what’s the matter with people.

 

[James]

Players are told not to come on here as they will probably read things they don't want to. At our worst we aren't as bad as Twitter.

 

[Pondlife]

It's exactly like the Bryce Reddick crap all over again. Surely dumping on a player has the opposite effect - no player is going to up their game just cos @DevilsFan83747620 tells them they're sh1t, They're just going to think "yeah, I don't need this abuse"

*Apologies if your twitter handle is DevilsFan83747620

 

[Chris]

The last interview we ever did with a player who was part of the setup when we spoke to them contained this about 4-5 years ago...

We as players do expect criticism when we don’t perform, as does any sporting professional, it comes with any job like that. But there has to be a limit somewhere. You might think I’m being a bit pathetic with this but after a loss this year, myself and my fiancé were verbally abused outside the rink and basically told we weren’t wanted in Cardiff anymore as we walked to my car. Now at this point even if a player is by themselves that shouldn’t be happening, no player goes out with the intention of losing or playing bad but at some point it will happen. But for people to abuse family members who have absolutely nothing to do with what just happened on the ice is bang out of order. It did get to me at the time, mainly because it upset my fiancé but I managed to turn it around with the aim to prove that fan wrong and really show them how wrong they were.

So maybe it had a silver lining really. I never really shared this with many people but now the season is done, I think it’s ok to talk about it. We have some great fans here, really great fans, the first two years I played here were amazing and you guys are what made me want to come back but when that kind of thing happens it makes you think twice about your decisions.

All the players and their families give up their lives and relocate to come to Cardiff and represent you guys and try to entertain you every week, so I would ask that the small minority of people that the above is about, think about it in the future as that type of thing is what will push great players away from a club.

The club banned us from talking to current players before we were able to run the interview so it never really got published.

I seem to remember we spoke to someone about the issues with Bryce Reddick (Thanks Pondlife for the reminder) but I cannot find the quote.

 

[Hockeymad]

Most of the forum don't want bowns here.

Its only facts.

I understand there is a fine line though And hopefully who ever it is get punished

 

[Kevlar68]

Bit of a exaggeration there. No one on here has said Bowns is not wanted here. There's only been expressions about who should start and their opinions why, get it right if your going to comment.

 

[jenks33]

Tagging players on twitter is a scumbag move. As august04 2.0 said I’m not sure I’d be on twitter if I was a professional sportsman but it’s still very poor to tag them.

Some people will disagree but I’ve always felt criticism on here is different. It’s very easy to ignore the inferno and I would never come on here if I was a player. Every sports forum is going to have some very strong opinions so probably best for players to stay away. Twitter and Facebook are different though.

 

[E.D.S.]

Most of the forum don't want bowns here.

Its only facts.

I understand there is a fine line though And hopefully who ever it is get punished

Not wanting him here or preferring another player is hardly abuse. "Most on here" is not a fact and nor is it representative of the entire fanbase. It's a tiny population. Context.

 

[Swarley]

Most of the forum don't want bowns here.

Its only facts.

You're sounding as delusional as Donald Trump with that accusation.

As Kevlar has said no one has said they don't want bowns here.

People saying who they think should start in goal is one thing, people saying they wish Carruth was still here is another thing.

But if people are actively going onto twitter tagging Bowns or any other player and getting personal with their attacks they need to seek professional help as well as have their social media apps deleted from their phones.

 

[Devil94]

The last interview we ever did with a player who was part of the setup when we spoke to them contained this about 4-5 years ago...

The club banned us from talking to current players before we were able to run the interview so it never really got published.

I seem to remember we spoke to someone about the issues with Bryce Reddick (Thanks Pondlife for the reminder) but I cannot find the quote.

Heartbreaking to read that. It has definitely got worse since we became successful. And that's unfortunately coincided with the birth of social media, and dare i say it, a new breed of fans whose expectations for the team and players are frankly not realistic.

None of us on here (I'm assuming) know what it's like to be a professional sportsman. But as above, when someone like Dupont, Reddick, Ulmer, Skalde move their whole family to a city they probably never heard of a year before, to represent our club, and then they or their family read something online (he's useless, he's got no passion, needs to be sacked etc), that must be awful feeling, to be welcomed to a new country and job in that way.

The way social media is now, you don't have to be following the offending account, or be tagged in a post to see it. It will find a way to the person, via retweets, replies, favourited, promoted etc. It's better to just say nothing of the sort as you never know who will read it, both on here and twitter.

The hockey World is a very small one, and if we're not careful we are going to get a reputation of a fan base that can turn when the smallest of things go wrong. And that environment will turn players away, as well as on ice success.

 

[Hedd Wyn John]

One person has admitted he was wrong to tweet what he did , I have seen other comments from people I know to be Devils fans. Not saying there aren’t fake accounts but comments are definitely coming from known Devils fans

3000 Devils fans turn up at IAW most weekends, looking at Cardiff Devils social media followers there's like 30K facebook followers, on twitter 53K followers. Granted there's no way of actually saying how many of those are actually fans but I will say there are at least several thousand Devils fans on social media even if they only attend games here or there.

So when you're talking about abuse- yes it's wrong but it's a tiny minority of fans. People go on twitter and they might see 2 or 3 mean tweets and the reaction is as if Devils twitter is a cesspool of abuse against players when it really is a small minority.

Will Devils fans go on online and vent frustration after a poor performance? Yes they will. & it's the same for any sports team out there. Will it stop? No.

Should players be abused? Heck no, but let's not conflate two different things.

Some people seem to think any criticism of the team on social media is verboten and is akin to abuse when it isn't & nor should it be.

 

[Gospel]

Some people on here and twitter just dont like players being criticised, or someone commenting about team performance or general complaining.

I read a post yesterday from a person A on twitter who was appalled at the criticism levied at the team by person G, although person G never mentioned any names or positions of players they were complaining about. I went through the person A's twitter posts and only a week before they were moaning about the referees!

Direct criticism of players to the players shouldnt happen but it will.