At the beginning of the World Cup I read this article on mashable.com and it has got me thinking since then on whether sporting players be allowed to use social media

As you can see from the article, many players on certain teams where banned from using any form of social media. This was very disappointing for me to read, as a big fan of the World Cup, I would love to have read players thoughts on the World Cup, as there teams progressed or didn’t progress.

The reason given is coaches don’t wish there players to be distracted during games, I also believe there concerns over information on tactics, plans etc being given out via social media.

The NFL has only applied a ban when a player is actually involved in a game or 90 minutes prior and after game. This is understandable and does make sense; personally I would think a player would be more focused on the actual game, rather than wanting to post something on a social media website.

The world cup ban was over the top and players should have been allowed to post a tweet on Twitter, or a comment on Facebook, or whatever form of social media they prefer to use.

This leads to a concern to me on whether we will see a more permanent ban in the future. It could very well happen, as if people within sports are concerned over information being given out, then they could deem that information they don’t want to be disclosed, can be given out at any time during the year, not just before/after/during a game.

There is also a possibility the ban could extend to before/after/during training sessions, after all if coaches don’t wish for players to be distracted during games, then they sure wouldn’t want players distracted during training.

Social Media provides an extra dimension to the enjoyment of sports; I personally enjoy viewing many NFL players’ views on Twitter. I believe most authority figures in sports will recognise the potential in allowing players using Social Media, but the complete world cup ban by certain teams leads to concerns that maybe we will see more bans on our sporting hero’s using Social Media.