Beware of what you write on your blog and on the message boards

If you go to just about any soccer message board or blog (other than those on The Offside, of course), chances are you will find comments about players, managers and clubs that are less than flattering. In fact, some are downright nasty. Such is the direction some people take when given an anonymous forum to voice their opinions. It turns out anonymity is not guaranteed when comments cross the libelous line.

The chairman, chief executive and five directors of Sheffield Wednesday have won a lawsuit against a Web site – Owlstalk – which posted unflattering comments about the club and its bigwigs. The lawsuit forces the site to reveal the names of the posters and opens them up to the possibility of being sued for libel.

The club’s lawyers asked the judge, Richard Parkes QC, to order disclosure about the identity of 11 fans.

But the judge decided some fans, whose postings were merely “abusive” or likely to be understood as jokes, should keep their anonymity.

The judge ordered that three fans whose postings might “reasonably be understood to allege greed, selfishness, untrustworthiness and dishonest behaviour”, should be unmasked. Their right to maintain their anonymity and express themselves freely was outweighed by the directors’ entitlement to take action to protect their reputation, he said.

Crap. If we aren’t allowed to talk about greed, selfishness, untrustworthiness and dishonest behaviour in soccer what will any of us be left to talk about? Better consult babyboy on this one.

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Category: England