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England Rugby, Six Nations and BBC condemn abuse directed at presenter

PA

England Rugby, the Six Nations and the BBC have condemned abuse directed at presenter Sonja McLaughlan following yesterday’s Guinness Six Nations match between Wales and England.

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McLaughlan came in for the abuse following her post-match interviews with Owen Farrell, Eddie Jones, Wayne Pivac and Alun Wyn Jones. Critics took issue with her line of questioning and her focus on the refereeing of Pascal Gauzere, among other gripes.

Such was the extent of the online shellacking that it left the veteran journalist ‘crying’ in her car.

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Owen Farrell fronts after England’s loss to Wales:

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Owen Farrell fronts after England’s loss to Wales:

“Toxic, embarrassing, disgraceful, appalling. Just some of the feedback I’ve had,” McLaughlan wrote on Twitter. “Thanks for using @ sign so it’s all hit home. Now imagine getting inundated with abuse for doing your job. In my car crying. Hope you’re happy.”

Now England Rugby, the Six Nations and the BBC have issued statements condemning the trolling she received.

England Rugby tweeted this morning: “Sonja, we are really sorry to hear this and hope you are ok. Abuse for doing your job is not OK and we stand with you. We will see you for the next one. Hold your head high and know you have our support.

“Rugby’s core values are Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship. Whether we are fans, players, coaches, referees, volunteers or in the media we are all part of the rugby community. We should all aim to hold ourselves to these values of our great game.”

The Six Nations official Twitter account also weighed in: “Sonja, we join with the rest of the rugby community to say that this is not ok. Respect is a value of rugby we hold in the highest regard. Abuse of public figures or members of the media on social media or anywhere else is not acceptable.”

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The BBC issued a statement saying: “BBC Sport strongly condemns the online abuse experienced by Sonja McLaughlan after the Wales v England match,” it said.

“Sonja has long been a key member of our Six Nations team and she absolutely has our full support.”

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Bull Shark 3 hours ago
Rassie Erasmus' Boks selection policy is becoming bizarre

To be fair, the only thing that drives engagement on this site is over the top critiques of Southern Hemisphere teams.


Or articles about people on podcasts criticizing southern hemisphere teams.


Articles regarding the Northern Hemisphere tend to be more positive than critical. I guess to also rile up kiwis and Saffers who seem to be the majority of followers in the comments section. There seems to be a whole department dedicated to Ireland’s world ranking news.


Despite being dialled into the Northern edition - I know sweet fokall about what’s going on in France.


And even less than fokall about what’s cutting in Japan - which has a fast growing, increasingly premium League competition emerging.


And let’s not talk about the pacific. Do they even play rugby Down there.


Oh and the Americas. I’ve read more articles about a young, stargazing Welshman’s foray into NFL than I have anything related to either the north and south continents of the Americas.


I will give credit that the women’s game is getting decent airtime. But for the rest and the above; it’s just pathetic coming from a World Rugby website.


Just consider the innovation emerging in Japan with the pedigree of coaches over there.


There’s so much good we could be reading.


Instead it’s unimaginative “critical for the sake of feigning controversial”. Which is lazy, because in order to pull that off all you need to be really good at is:


1. Being a doos;

2. Having an opinion.


No prior experience needed.


Which is not journalism. That’s like all or most of us in the comments section. People like Finn (who I believe is a RP contributor).


Anyway. Hopefully it will get better. The game is growing and the interest in the game is growing. Maybe it will attract more qualified journalists over time.

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