Kate Brigginshaw, wife of Maroons captain Ali Brigginshaw, issues emotional plea to end online hate towards family
The wife of Queensland and Brisbane captain Ali Brigginshaw has made an emotional plea to end the online hate directed at their family, revealing the NRLW star has been subject to vile abuse across the past month.
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The wife of Queensland and Brisbane captain Ali Brigginshaw has taken to social media with an emotional plea to end the online hate directed at their family across the past month.
Kate Brigginshaw, who has been married to Ali since 2021, has spoken up in defence of her partner outlining the vile abuse she has been dealing with just days after the Broncos revealed their mental health jersey to drive change and conversation around the issue.
In a post on Instagram, Kate revealed the family has been dealing with messages telling them to “k*ll themselves” as well as other sexist, derogatory and cruel remarks.
“Mental health affects everyone, in particular athletes,” she wrote.
“Anyone in the public eye is aware they open themselves up to opinion and scrutiny, however there is a fine line between a reasonable comment/dm and what is honestly far beyond anything even remotely reasonable, which is what Ali and our family have been subjected to for the last month.”
The timing coincides with Queensland’s State of Origin loss to NSW across the past two games, and comes just as the Maroons enter camp for game three to be played in Newcastle next week.
Brigginshaw, one of the most respected and revered players in women’s rugby league, was visibly emotional after losing game two in Sydney last week and feared she had played her last game in the jersey.
However, she is known to wear her heart on her sleeve and has been picked at lock for Origin III.
“Bashing people on social media isn’t cool,” the post continued.
“You think you’re showing something bad about someone else when you’re really showing something bad about yourself.
“Normal people don’t go around vomiting hate about individuals they know absolutely nothing about, or send derogatory, sexist or cruel dms encouraging someone to k*ll themselves.
“Ironically, the same people showing support for MH awareness and “it ain’t weak to speak” are the same people leaving comments and sending those disgusting dms.
“It is incredibly damaging and dangerous and I seriously encourage all those who do participate to think before leaving a comment or sending a dm about whether they would say those things to someone they loved.”
It comes at a sensitive time for the game’s female players with an investigation into fake AI images spread online of NSW Origin winger Jaime Chapman.
It’s understood the investigation is ongoing and NSW Police are confident of finding the perpetrator.
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Originally published as Kate Brigginshaw, wife of Maroons captain Ali Brigginshaw, issues emotional plea to end online hate towards family
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