Lionel Messi's wife Antonella Roccuzzo got trolled after Argentina faced shocking 3-0 defeat at hands of Croatia in the FIFA World Cup. Messi's home team, which is seldom in poor form, is struggling to stay float at the 2018 edition of the championship. Since Roccuzzo was unable to be by her husband's side in Russia she posted a picture of their three-month-old son on Instagram along with a message to cheer Messi and his team.
According to Sputnik, a news agency, after the loss to Croatia, some disappointed fans trolled this picture with uncharitable comments about Messi. One man wrote, “Papi is a loser,” while another user wrote that “Papi” would be coming home soon when Argentina gets knocked out of the tournament.
“I hope you will tell Messi to play a better match against Nigeria,” another person commented, referring to the upcoming third and final Group D game in St. Petersburg.
It is understandable to feel dejected when your favourite team lets you down, but does that mean that you go on to harass family members of the players?
The collateral damage
Be it cricket or football, it is not uncommon for the fans to troll wives or girlfriends of popular players who fail to perform as per their expectations. My only question is, were these women on the field? Were they the ones who performed poorly and led to your team's loss? No. Then why do so many fans take out their anger on female partners of their favourite players?
Why must these wives or girlfriends pay the price for their partner's poor for? Just because they are women? Stop treating these women like universal punching bags and learn to accept defeat if you are truly a sports fan.
Certainly, Ruccozzo or her baby don't deserve these comments. In the present times, when news and comments are practically immortal on the Internet, did these people even think how this boy would feel if he ever comes across these comments in the future?
In 2016, actor Anushka Sharma got relentlessly trolled by cricket maniacs, who blamed her for beau Virat Kohli's poor form. Her only fault was being acquainted with the cricketer and even showing up at matches to cheer him. When Kohli hit a patch of poor form, many people blamed that Sharma was distracting him. Some even went ahead and called her a "bad omen" for the cricketer. Wives, fiance and girlfriends of sportsmen are easy pickings for frustrated fans. They lack the temerity to criticise their legends. They feel emasculated at not being able to do something about losing a couple of games. Hence, they blame their stars' shortcomings or take out their frustration on unsuspecting and vulnerable female partners.
People who can leave such harsh remarks on a baby's picture are not true fans of either football or Messi.
This is not fandom. They are miscreants masquerading as Argentinian fans, who don't care how hurt Messi and his wife would be by such comments. The toxic obsessive behaviour, which runs through the seams of sports like cricket and football, makes many fans aggressive. Sports, like love, can invoke extreme and polarised feelings, especially among males. They would either kiss the ground on which their legends walk, or burn down their houses in anger. All it takes is one poor performance. One bad tournament and your three-month old's picture is left with comments like "Papi is a loser".
These fans have forgotten the true virtues of sports. Where is their sportsman spirit? Have they forgotten win or lose, learn to take in your stride? Taking out the frustration on women reeks of the general misogynist attitude. Do Messi or Kohli hold any respect for the fans who target their loved ones? Do they feel sorry for letting such fans down? I don't think so.
Any person who invests his or her life to represent their country in sports will feel ashamed of such fans. They would feel disgusted and angry towards people who take out their frustration on their loved ones. They would, in fact, be much more agitated and dejected with these fans than these fans are at their teams' losses at sporting events. But it seems like these fans don't even care about what their legends feel about them. All they care about is matching hurt and defeat with aggression towards innocent women.
Photo Source: Goal
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Yamini Pustake Bhalerao is a writer with the SheThePeople team, in the Opinions section. The views expressed are the author’s own.
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