Social media guidance for Cas squad

Castleford’s players are set to receive lessons in how to best use social media for themselves and the club.

Recent years have seen a big growth in usage of Facebook and Twitter by players, enabling fans to communicate with their favourites on a regular basis.

It has attracted some negativity too, with former Tigers full-back Richie Mathers caught up in a Twitter row over his form several months ago, while in other sports, players have been sent letters from governing bodies warning them of their conduct.

But Tigers coach Ian Millward believes the club needs to embrace the technology, and use it as a tool to positively promote the club.

He said: “As a modern coach, you’ve got to understand there are different ways to communicate with the world, through things Twitter and Facebook and other media outlets.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re strong internally, and that what comes out is positive. We’re encouraging our players to do more. We want to work with them to help them promote the team.

“You’ll probably find that any modern sporting organisation is putting these sort of practices in place – it’s basically a new code of conduct.”

Before Christmas, Warrington’s players were put through a social media presentation, covering both its positives and negatives by law firm Burlingtons Legal LLP.

Their representative Katie Simmonds said: “Social media has caused serious consequences for the average employee but when your business is sport, the implications for professional athletes can be far reaching resulting in breach of contract, loss of sponsorship, defamation proceedings and ultimately, being cut from the team.”