Social media brings with it added social responsibility. For men and women like us who are in the domain, even more so. And if you are a cricketer in the public glare, you need to be far more conscious and restrained. A random post can result in a huge uproar, and one of the things in the IPL that literally went out of hand was how cricketers turned into content creators and started posting social media content.
Since then, the BCCI has issued a seven-page diktat urging restraint and once again reinforcing certain rules. It was natural that I would ask Arun Dhumal, Chairman of the IPL, what he thinks of this social media disease, if I may call it that.
“I don’t think cricketers need to be content creators,” said Dhumal. No beating around the bush and no holding back. He was straight on the front foot and made the point. Taking a second to collect his thoughts, he went on, “The cricketer’s job is to play good cricket. If they do so, there will be enough and more good content created about them. So they don’t need to turn into content creators and start creating reels, shorts, or other posts. It isn’t needed and a line had to be drawn.”
I have to say he is spot on. Players have access to certain pieces of information that might sound attractive and appealing to the general public if put out. The truth is that, in a situation as sensitive as the present one, every piece of information has to be shared with sensitivity and restraint.
It is not as if many of us did not know this. Even the players know they need to hold back and be more careful. And yet it wasn’t being done. In fact, it was a free-for-all, with all sorts of content floating around on social media.
All Dhumal was asking for is restraint. It is cricket first, and to ensure that, this is the very least the players can and need to do. As the IPL draws to a close, this is one debate that will rage on. Is it time to be more responsible?
To go back to Dhumal. “Most of the things we have mentioned in the seven-page letter were already there,” he said. “If you go and see, you will know there is nothing fundamentally new that we have asked for. Rather, seeing that things weren’t being followed, it was important that we reinforced every point, and that’s what was at the root of the letter. Every franchise and every player has now been reminded what is expected of them, and that’s all there is to it.”
Dhumal had very subtly conveyed the point, and yet it was as blunt as it could get. Play the game on the field and there will be enough and more content made about you. Leave the social media domain to influencers and don’t get lured by it – that is what he has suggested. It was straight talk, and I must say, much needed as well.
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