Tasmania JackJumpers CEO Christine Finnegan expecting BA Integrity update over vile social media attacks on Monday; thanks local fan base for their support

Recent abuse and threats directed towards members of the JackJumpers roster and their families was brought to light in head coach Scott Roth’s press conference following the 83-64 win over New Zealand on Saturday.

Roth’s pleas for action were met with an immediate response from both the NBL and Basketball Australia, with both confirming they were investigating the matter, while the overriding reaction throughout the local JackJumpers fan community has been one of support for the NBL champions.

Messages in a number of fan pages had been shared immediately following Saturday’s game with many supporters vowing to call out anything they deemed not acceptable to formulating ways they could show the players support at this coming Friday’s home game against Brisbane.

Speaking to this masthead on Sunday, Tasmania JackJumpers CEO Christine Finnegan was confident they had the full support of both the league and the governing body and thanked the fans that had shown support to the club in recent days.

“We’ve had incredible support from the NBL and the Basketball Australia Integrity Unit,” Finnegan said.

“We can never be more proud of our Tasmanian community, we all represent them and ‘Defend the Island’ are three words we take very seriously. In times like these, there’s no place to be like the island in terms of having support.

“We wrap our arms around our players and their families and we thank the Tasmanian community for getting behind us. We also want the Tasmanian community to know that we are taking this seriously, we’ve got all the right people doing all the right things to make sure that this matter goes away and is dealt with properly.”

With the nature of the abuse and threats detailed by Roth so serious that they involved a pregnant player’s wife, Finnegan said she would leave it up to the integrity unit as to if police action was taken but wasn’t sure where those responsible were hailed from.

“I’ll leave that up to the integrity unit. That’s obviously the next step for them if they deem the threat serious enough (to escalate to the police),” she said.

“It could be from anywhere around the globe to be honest and we don’t know where it is.

“I’ve asked all the players, wives and girlfriends, if they’re not directly reporting it to Basketball Australia, that they come through me. And I’ve certainly passed on everything that I’ve received to them, and now they’ve assured me they’re giving it the highest priority.”

Roth was stanch in his views on Saturday night, calling for the NBL to act on the issue and admitted the severity of the abuse they’d received by online trolls had reached a tipping point prior to the clash against New Zealand.

“We have a lot of distraught players, family members, spouses and children. We have been attacked brutally through social media, to the point that it’s ugly,” Roth said.

“We have a player that’s wife is pregnant and they wish for a miscarriage. These attacks have been going on for weeks and it came to a head yesterday (Friday). We deserve better.

“If you don’t like the way we play, I get it. But to go after people’s mothers, fathers and kids and to do that in the brutal way that this has transpired, it’s beyond crossing the line.

“The league needs to protect us.”

While Finnegan added online attacks directed at players and coaches was sadly nothing new, she said any type of hate, abuse or threats directed at them or their family members wouldn’t be tolerated.

“This online trolling is something that all clubs, teams, coaches and players across all sports have to deal with as part of their, unfortunately, daily lives,” she said.

“But the elevated nature of it over the last two weeks has certainly disturbed the team and the players. On the whole, they know how to manage this space and ignore it. But when it starts to infiltrate into their lives and their girlfriends and their children and other members of their families that’s when we all have to say that enough is enough and draw the line.

“Sport, unfortunately, comes with wins and it comes with losses. And it’s something that we haven’t had to experience a lot of in the three years we’ve been here. But, you know, when those days come, that’s when you need your fans the most.

“While we’ve had a really, really tough start to our season in a number of ways, the best thing our fans can do is just stay behind us, support us and understand it’s just a game and it’s an entertaining game. And we hope that we’re still entertaining everybody.”

Originally published as Tasmania JackJumpers CEO Christine Finnegan expecting BA Integrity update over vile social media attacks on Monday; thanks local fan base for their support