No tweets please, we're trying to win a World Cup
Social media enthusiasts in the All Blacks World Cup squad will be banned from updating their Twitter and Facebook pages during the tournament.
Head coach Graham Henry said a previous policy of advising caution to players would be replaced by a blanket ban during the September 9 to October 23 tournament, which New Zealand is hosting.
“We’ve just asked them to make good decisions about that and, in the All Blacks camp, most of the time, they’ve made good decisions,” he told Sky Sports. “But, at Rugby World Cup time, zilch.”
All Blacks winger Cory Jane, who has more than 14 000 followers on Twitter (twitter.com/#!/coryjane1080), said he would respect the ban.
“just wanna playr ugby & talk to fans.Thats all i wanna DO.I don’t want trouble,” he posted after the ban was announced.
Henry gave a “quiet reminder” of their obligations to Jane and prop Neemia Tialata when the pair tweeted that were not in the side for an All Blacks game against England in 2009.
All Blacks team manager Darren Shand said senior players had called for the ban.
“We don’t want players doing it individually, it just creates distraction,” he told Fairfax media.
The ban also includes blogs and newspaper columns, Shand said.—Reuters
