Social media tirade sees Baseball SA staff quit, chief Sarah Kelly call for change

A “tirade” of phone calls, social media comments and potential game day abuse from fans forced a highly valued worker to quit, according to Baseball SA’s boss.

The boss of Baseball SA believes a lack of respect is the cause of a tirade of “keyboard warriors” that led a staff member to leave the sporting body as it calls for cultural change.

General Manager Sarah Kelly released a statement on Wednesday confirming a staff member on the receiving end of repetitive negative social media comments had quit.

Speaking to the Messenger Kelly said the staff member had received abuse on all fronts.

Baseball SA chief Sarah Kelly is calling for cultural change in the baseball community after social media abuse led to a staff member quitting. Picture: iStock

“I won’t go into detail about what’s been said but it’d been continuous on all platforms – phone calls, social media, potentially at games where people might not be happy with us – so face-to-face,” she said.

“It becomes too much.

“It’s extremely important to stamp this sort of thing out of sport because everyone involved loves the sport and does whatever they can to drive it forward.”

Kelly said Baseball SA had been on the receiving end of “varied” abuse.

“It varies a bit depending on the circumstances and it has come from club members and fans,” she said.

“It’s not personal attacks, more so particular rules we have, or outcomes which have transpired from requests around player movement and availability and club members or fans airing their frustration.

Baseball SA GM Sarah Kelly said her and her staff had received too much disrespect from the community over rules and decisions. Picture: Brenton Edwards

“There’s an overall lack of respect for what the staff here do. We’ve worked really hard especially during Covid to keep the game going.”

Earlier Kelly’s statement referred to the repetitive vitriol received on social media.

“As some of you are aware, we have once again come out the other side of a weekend of baseball with a tirade of negative social media comments towards Baseball SA and our staff,” the statement reads.

“After experiencing and witnessing the impact of this poor, distasteful behaviour many times over recent years, I have a responsibility to call for it to cease immediately.

“We have now lost an extremely valued, highly regarded member of our staff. There is only so much one person can take before they determine enough is enough.”

Kelly continued to describe the possible mental health impacts negative comments could have on Baseball SA and its staff.

“In a world where there is much focus on recognising and understanding the mental health and wellbeing around us, it is deplorable that keyboard warriors continue to berate and degrade people within this office.

“When posting nasty and abusive messages on social media, how do we know how this is affecting that individual personally? We don’t.”

Kelly said Baseball SA would implement a new communications policy and framework, would remove any abuse online, and sanction clubs and/or members who behave inappropriately.

She also stated Baseball SA would work closely with clubs on improving culture both on and off the field.