AFL players have been banned from interacting with the general public, for fear the vicious player appraisals could lead to depression.
At one club, support staff also have been threatened with the sack if they are caught talking with friends or leaking valuable information to the public.
Labelled "not fair" and "I'm going to tell Mum if you don't stop" by the AFL Players' Association, clubs have taken the drastic step of encouraging a boycott of the fans.
"I wouldn't encourage any players to talk to them. I think it's for people not good enough to be players, and I think it's mostly for entertainment rather any decent feedback," AFLPA general manager of psychology, people and culture, Anderson Demetriou said yesterday.
"It's more your 'Player X you're s**t' and 'Player Y try harder' trivia."
"I would agree with coaches telling players not to talk, but I would also encourage the players not to think of it in any way as criticism - it's just a random sample of people with not much better to do than give their money to the AFL."
Most football clubs have independent supporter meeting places, including the 'Gabba, Alberton Oval, the Lexus Centre, Arden Street and Windy Hill.
One of the most popular is Punt Road.
At these places, anonymous people drinking alcohol ritually attack players for their performances, and the criticisms sometimes carry racial and sexual overtones.
One coach, who did not want to draw attention to his players, yesterday said: "They get real nasty."
The coach said he was aware of one player receiving "particularly scathing" criticism and he had approached the player and asked if he was aware of it.
"Thankfully, he said it didn't matter because he didn't associate with the fans, but bloody oath, it could affect the player," the coach said. "It's a serious issue, a major issue.
One club official last night confirmed the coach had directed some of his players to stop talking to fans.
"Yes, we have suggested to some players they avoid fans," the official said.
A football manager from another club said he had addressed the issue with the players.
He also revealed he had warned support staff that if they leaked information to supporters, or people knowingly connected to the supporters, they would be sacked.
"We have said, 'Whatever you know is not to be passed on to people outside the club'," he said.
He said players had to avoid any scathing critiques.
"It's like abuse at the game, it could do your head in, and it's the same thing with pubs.
"You should hear some of it, it's rubbish. You've got to understand the ego of players and fragility comes with that as well."
Media sources say that this has been on their radar for some time, and have commissioned A Current Today-Tonight Affair to undertake a hidden camera investigation of rambling drunks, both male and female, after each round lurching from one form of abuse to another, aiming at players, coaches, administrators, and even the AFL at one point.
"Due to the strong language being captured, we're not showing it at our usual 6:30 timeslot, but at 10:30 Mondays - Footy Confidential - don't miss it!"
Grange yesterday said AFL footballers were in the "culture of celebrities".
"And there's a lot of nasty stuff out there," she said.
"There's no restriction of what people are able to say at hotels," Grange said.
"Anonymously hurling abuse at pubs about players is a form of bullying, it's public bullying of people in celebrity positions.
"And the footy players, unless they personally take some course of investigation, have got absolutely no comeback."
Grange said public criticism of players had been addressed, although pub criticism hadn't specifically been on the agenda.
"We talk to the players about building resilience about feedback and what they need to let through to the keeper, and what's actually value for them and how they make a choice about each," she said.
"We have a specific focus on strip joints and getting a lift home from anonymous fans at the moment, but that's going to happen with our lifestyle at the minute."
More serious, she said, were players' identities being claimed by bloggers.
"The biggest thing I've encountered in my role where it's been a problem is where people say that they know the friend of a mate of a player's brother and claim to be making comments on behalf of the player," she said.
"They get obviously quite upset about that. I even had a look at one of those websites that writes stuff about our club and players - www.afl.com.au - to think that the people out there who manage this "site" tell everyone that they are doing this in partnership with the AFL - yeah, I laughed when I saw it as well."
----
FWIW, yes it is a problem, but it is a problem that all of society faces. Whether it is an e-mail going around your workplace about you, or a web-site talking about what a c**p game you played on the weekend, or a newspaper editorial telling you what a s**t job you did with the Federal Budget, we are all in this world.
"I'll stop being paranoid, as long as those people talking about me just LEAVE ME ALONE!"
At one club, support staff also have been threatened with the sack if they are caught talking with friends or leaking valuable information to the public.
Labelled "not fair" and "I'm going to tell Mum if you don't stop" by the AFL Players' Association, clubs have taken the drastic step of encouraging a boycott of the fans.
"I wouldn't encourage any players to talk to them. I think it's for people not good enough to be players, and I think it's mostly for entertainment rather any decent feedback," AFLPA general manager of psychology, people and culture, Anderson Demetriou said yesterday.
"It's more your 'Player X you're s**t' and 'Player Y try harder' trivia."
"I would agree with coaches telling players not to talk, but I would also encourage the players not to think of it in any way as criticism - it's just a random sample of people with not much better to do than give their money to the AFL."
Most football clubs have independent supporter meeting places, including the 'Gabba, Alberton Oval, the Lexus Centre, Arden Street and Windy Hill.
One of the most popular is Punt Road.
At these places, anonymous people drinking alcohol ritually attack players for their performances, and the criticisms sometimes carry racial and sexual overtones.
One coach, who did not want to draw attention to his players, yesterday said: "They get real nasty."
The coach said he was aware of one player receiving "particularly scathing" criticism and he had approached the player and asked if he was aware of it.
"Thankfully, he said it didn't matter because he didn't associate with the fans, but bloody oath, it could affect the player," the coach said. "It's a serious issue, a major issue.
One club official last night confirmed the coach had directed some of his players to stop talking to fans.
"Yes, we have suggested to some players they avoid fans," the official said.
A football manager from another club said he had addressed the issue with the players.
He also revealed he had warned support staff that if they leaked information to supporters, or people knowingly connected to the supporters, they would be sacked.
"We have said, 'Whatever you know is not to be passed on to people outside the club'," he said.
He said players had to avoid any scathing critiques.
"It's like abuse at the game, it could do your head in, and it's the same thing with pubs.
"You should hear some of it, it's rubbish. You've got to understand the ego of players and fragility comes with that as well."
Media sources say that this has been on their radar for some time, and have commissioned A Current Today-Tonight Affair to undertake a hidden camera investigation of rambling drunks, both male and female, after each round lurching from one form of abuse to another, aiming at players, coaches, administrators, and even the AFL at one point.
"Due to the strong language being captured, we're not showing it at our usual 6:30 timeslot, but at 10:30 Mondays - Footy Confidential - don't miss it!"
Grange yesterday said AFL footballers were in the "culture of celebrities".
"And there's a lot of nasty stuff out there," she said.
"There's no restriction of what people are able to say at hotels," Grange said.
"Anonymously hurling abuse at pubs about players is a form of bullying, it's public bullying of people in celebrity positions.
"And the footy players, unless they personally take some course of investigation, have got absolutely no comeback."
Grange said public criticism of players had been addressed, although pub criticism hadn't specifically been on the agenda.
"We talk to the players about building resilience about feedback and what they need to let through to the keeper, and what's actually value for them and how they make a choice about each," she said.
"We have a specific focus on strip joints and getting a lift home from anonymous fans at the moment, but that's going to happen with our lifestyle at the minute."
More serious, she said, were players' identities being claimed by bloggers.
"The biggest thing I've encountered in my role where it's been a problem is where people say that they know the friend of a mate of a player's brother and claim to be making comments on behalf of the player," she said.
"They get obviously quite upset about that. I even had a look at one of those websites that writes stuff about our club and players - www.afl.com.au - to think that the people out there who manage this "site" tell everyone that they are doing this in partnership with the AFL - yeah, I laughed when I saw it as well."
----
FWIW, yes it is a problem, but it is a problem that all of society faces. Whether it is an e-mail going around your workplace about you, or a web-site talking about what a c**p game you played on the weekend, or a newspaper editorial telling you what a s**t job you did with the Federal Budget, we are all in this world.
"I'll stop being paranoid, as long as those people talking about me just LEAVE ME ALONE!"
