Justin Langer’s guide to mental health – strict diet of zero social media

Australian cricket coach Justin Langer has issued some advice to people in the public eye.

Justin Langer speaks to Pakistan players Imam-ul-Haq, left, and Babar Azam after the Test in Adelaide last December. Picture: AFP

In a week where social media ­rumour and death-threat posts in football codes have become police matters, Justin Langer has issued some advice to people in the public eye and called for more “common decency” from fans.

The Australian cricket coach said things were so toxic he believed people in public life should cut themselves off from social media and again slammed the behaviour of some England fans during the Ashes in 2019.

Player abuse has become a major issue after Giants star Callan Ward received death threats and attacks on his young family from opposition fans over a controversial free kick in a match against Essendon on Friday.

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Players from the AFL and other codes supported the Giant, who said he worried about the affect such abuse could have on the mental health of younger players.

The club said it had contacted the police about the incident and chief executive David Matthews raised the matter with the chiefs of other clubs on Wednesday.

“It’s a community-wide issue and the AFL has shown leadership on a number of social matters, this is another,” he told The Australian. “Online bullying is a social issue. Most of the 800 players are used to being in the public eye and can handle it but it is friends and families who feel it.

“Threats are threats no matter how they are delivered.”

Brisbane Broncos coach Anthony Seibold contacted police and hired lawyers who issued a warning to members of the public spreading ugly rumours about his private life.

Racial abuse directed at black football players has provoked similar disappointment and outrage.

Langer was advised by Steve Waugh early in his career not to read reports of his poor form and said it helped free his mind. He has a similar attitude to social media and has long campaigned on the issue of crowd abuse.

“If I can give anyone who is in the public eye any advice at all it is zero social media, because I don’t need any stranger telling me how good I am. More importantly I don’t need strangers telling me how bad I am,” Langer said on My Sporting Mind podcast.

“I know if I am playing well or if I am playing poorly. What I do need is the people who I respect, my family and my friends and the people who keep me grounded, they will let me know. I don’t need strangers telling me that.

“Why do I need to hear from the media how good I am? I certainly don’t need to know how bad I am. You talk about mental health? My gosh, you have to be so flipping tough if you think you can get through that.

“One of my pet hates in life is people, they pay their 20 quid or 20 bucks and come and watch a sporting game, and they think they can say what they want and they abuse the people who are trying so hard out on the field.

“People say you have got to have a sense of humour. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding? Some of the things we were exposed to in England last year during the World Cup and the Ashes I still can’t believe. And they are from parents who had their little kids next to them, it just doesn’t make any sense to me but, ‘Oh well you get paid a lot of money so harden up.’

“If people said that to my children, I would be shattered and my players become like my kids and you feel for them and it’s part of what we choose to go into and I get all that, but there’s still common decency and common courtesy, which is really lacking in our community today.”

Ricky Ponting confirmed how difficult it was for the coaches to hear the abuse directed at the players in England.

“At different times, probably both of us (he and Langer) had to hold each other back from not jumping over the fence and getting amongst the crowd and shutting a few of them, to be honest,” Ponting said in the documentary The Test.

Some have made a stand on the field. Indian Virat Kohli berated his own supporters during the World Cup when they abused Smith.

Langer said Smith showed “incredible class” in England and Warner was a “street fighter but he is such a good person”.

The coach praised the pair, saying they never fought back except on the field, smiled their way through the tour and laughed at the abuse. He praised their “great courage, great strength and hopefully they would have grown from that experience”.

The Giants player, Ward, who has been in lockdown for some time, said on Melbourne radio that a lot of the abuse on social media was directed at a social media post of his young son.

“I have a six-month old and my wife who I miss quite a bit and they can’t come up to Perth either,” he told radio 3AW. “It will be quite some time before I see them.

“With what’s happened last night the most disappointing thing is I have a lot of Essendon supporters, a lot of AFL supporters commenting on photos of Romeo, my baby, and saying I’m a flog, all this stuff. I’m copping a bit, which is disappointing.”

Players from other clubs supported Ward, saying the abuse they received — particularly from gamblers — was constant.