Retired sport stars talk trolls, tweets, and teamwork

Brian O’Driscoll might have been at the Web Summit to talk technology yesterday but he dedicated some of his time to issuing out words of warning when it comes to social media use.

“You’ve said things and woken up the next day and deleted them, and hoped that no one has favourited or retweeted them,” the former Irish rugby international said on centre stage yesterday.

“And you think, ‘I’ve been hacked; I was hacked at 4.30 in the morning’. But I’m the only one that has my details, so the buck does stop with me,” joked the rugby pundit.

Moving on from late-night Twitter use to more day-to-day online activities he said trolls have always been part of life.

“People talk about trolls on Twitter and people having that vehicle, they’ve always existed but social media has offered them the opportunity to get into it. You have to accept that as part of it; sometimes you engage and other times you don’t,” he explained.

Ireland’s former number 13 was joined on stage by another retired sports star turned commentator, retired soccer Manchester United soccer player Rio Ferdinand.

Ferdinand also reflected on his own time online stating that he had to be monitored.

“When I was at United it was heavily governed, and I paid quite a few fines over the years for some of the stuff that I said,” he confessed.

“I’m quite an impulsive person at times, and if someone said something not even associated with sport or football and you don’t agree with them, and you say something back, you can be fined. So I paid a fair few fines over the years,” he told the audience, which was at peak capacity for the talk.

O’Driscoll on the other hand, said he was always well-behaved while in camp, but that he’s enjoying the freedom that individuality gives him now.

“As part of a team, you have to adhere to the team way and mightn’t always be able to speak your mind or show the individual in you,” said the record Irish rugby try-scorer.

However, one thing he did not touch on, was Ireland’s performance in the Rugby World Cup. Instead he joked about having to find his seat amongst the madding crowd.

“Even just reading a ticket [I found difficult], ‘I don’t know how to do this, can you please hold my hand’,” he joked.

But O’Driscoll did admit to missing competitive sporting life. “It’s a unique, special feeling that’s hard to replicate,” he said talking about the atmosphere in a dressing room after a game.

And now, both in his business and journalism affairs, he just hopes to be adding value. “In all the new things I am involved in I hope to be adding value to,” O’Driscoll stated.

Fans will be disappointed to know however, that he has no plans, to pull on a pair of studded-boots, in a coaching capacity, any time soon.

“The coaching side of things doesn’t really appeal to me at the moment. I wanted my weekends back. For the time being I don’t think coaching is on my radar. From a team point of view I wanted a clean break from it,” he said.