Footballer’s need to have thick skins but no-one should be expected to put up with a constant stream of abuse.
Shane Duffy had an afternoon to forget at the DW Stadium, on Saturday. The Ireland defender was part of a Blackburn defence that shipped three goals to Wigan in the side’s second successive league defeat.
Duffy started 2016/17 in good personal form but was far from perfect in the 3-0 loss. His below-par performance was compounded by a hapless own goal in the second half.
WATCH: Shane Duffy picked a bad time to have his worst moment for Blackburn https://t.co/c6kPgURLNh
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 14, 2016
Wigan fans gleefully celebrated Duffy’s misfortunes after the game and many included Duffy’s @ShaneDuffy34 Twitter handle in their tweets.
Apparently Latics fans were upset about previous comments, attributed to the Derry native, about their club having a tiny fanbase.
.@stuartalker @ShaneDuffy34 karma after this #wafc pic.twitter.com/YTM5fdLtSc
— Mike (@Kellybayor) August 13, 2016
@ShaneDuffy34 us 100 Latics fans were delighted to see you put into your own net today ✊💦
— Latics1932 (@Latics1932) August 13, 2016
@TrueGeordieNUFC vote Shane Duffy for #wotw after calling #Wafc for having no fans, scoring own goal against them and then deleting Twitter
— Mike (@Kellybayor) August 15, 2016
Shane Duffy 😂💩
— Reece (@meadows_reece) August 14, 2016
Duffy may well be choosing to focus on his game and deleting his social media accounts or he simply could have had enough of the abuse. Either way, the account is no longer active.
@ShaneDuffy34 is no more
https://twitter.com/CharlieGosling8/status/764524769882497024
In a weekend of memorable sporting moments, Shane Duffy deleting his Twitter after copping dog's abuse off Latics fans has to be at the top.
— Chris 🪩 (@_teletext) August 15, 2016
Some Blackburn fans blamed themselves
https://twitter.com/PhilBLAHBLAH/status/764822379868614656
Others had different ideas
https://twitter.com/Joe_Tootell/status/764811136189562880
As for the man himself, it looks as though he was happily getting on with his life. He was pictured at Féile an Phobail in Belfast on Sunday.
With Shane Duffy @FeileBelfast last night #Derry pic.twitter.com/5v39mcTE16
— Dan Ó Muirigh (@danomuirigh98) August 15, 2016
Life goes on and Duffy is expected to start at centre back for Rovers this evening.
On the latest episode of the GAA Hour Hurling Show Wooly and the lads reflect on a monumental weekend of action. Listen below or subscribe here on iTunes
