Ex CEO joins Barrie McDermott in calling for end of social media abuse towards sacked coaches

Yesterday former Wigan Warriors and Leeds Rhinos player, and now current Sky Sports pundit, Barrie McDermott called out Twitter trolls for their ‘personal and vicious insults’ towards sacked head coaches Daryl Powell and Andy Last, and now a former Super League Chief Executive Officer has done similar.

Both Powell and Last have been dismissed from their roles in the past week, Powell leaving Warrington last Sunday following his team’s dismal performance against then bottom of the table Wakefield Trinity.

As for Last he saw his marching orders after Castleford dropped below Wakefield and to the foot of Super League on Friday night after another heavy loss to Huddersfield Giants.

Both men had taken their teams on long runs of bad form and whilst fans have every right to be passionate, it was noted by McDermott that abuse of a vicious and personal nature goes beyond the line.

Unfortunately sport is a cut throat business that evokes passionate reactions to the good, bad and everything in between obviously we go on a rollercoaster with our team and that’s how it should be. I’ve seen some horrible stuff about Powell and Last
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— Barrie McDermott 🏉 (@RLBarrieMc10) August 5, 2023

Which isn’t called for first and foremost these are good men who care about our game, they tried but didn’t deliver on what’s expected they have now lost their jobs that’s sport, that’s it!

What isn’t sport is some of the personal & vicious insults I’ve seen on here… BEHAVE!

— Barrie McDermott 🏉 (@RLBarrieMc10) August 5, 2023

McDermott tweeted the above yesterday just after midday as he explained that the cut throat nature of sport does evoke emotions, but a line had clearly been crossed given some of the online abuse that had been sent.

That’s something that former Castleford Tigers CEO Steven Gill has since backed up as he took to social media himself explaining that both Powell and Last ‘deserve better’ than the torrent of abuse they have received.

After having lots of personal abuse myself on all fronts on social media despite the success I had whilst @CTRLFC my heart goes out to Lasty and Powley two genuinely hard working blokes who deserve better . #Gotigers

— Steven Gill (@StevenG72629899) August 5, 2023

Gill has also spoke recently on Twitter in support of Daryl Powell and his coaching ability as he stated that he would hire the former Wire man ‘in a heartbeat’ if he were in charge of a Super League side, but he also noted that now would be the time for Powell to take a break and recharge.

Warrington are still actively pursuing a new head coach after being knocked back by former St Helens boss Justin Holbrook, and whilst it is assumed that Castleford will also be looking for a new head coach the club have promised an update after the weekend.

At the time of Last’s dismissal the club did release a statement, but it didn’t provide an update on the search for a replacement, something that is expected tomorrow or early this week.