Bullying is a topic which is increasing in the spotlight, as access to social media grows. Now it’s Harness Racing’s turn.
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Legend of the sport, Kerryn Manning, said in her career there has been numerous occasions of abuse and bullying – the latest comes this week. She received an abusive message following a race last week, prompting her to tweet with the hashtag Be Kind To Your Driver.
“I decided to put a message I received out on twitter with the hashtag to draw attention to the campaign Harness Racing has recently run,” she said.
Manning said its important that people understand that there are repercussions and there are other people on the end of messages people send through.
“I am in a position where I don’t let these things get to me. This can effect other people in different ways. It can really make people feel down and out about performances,” she said.
The abusive message Manning received was about a recent race, one as an experienced driver says she didn’t think it was a bad drive.
“It was a good race. There was nothing else in the race I could have done. It wasn’t a bad drive,” she said.
Manning said the support was great to see after she put the messages on her Twitter account with the hashtag as a reminder for everyone, not only in the Harness Racing industry, but in life, in general.
“When people bring these things out into the open people are there to support each other and I think it would deter people from doing it again or maybe stop others if they think it’s ok to do something like this in the future,” she said.
Earlier in the year, Victorian trots drivers revealed some of the most poisonous tweets and messages directed at them in a bid to draw the spotlight on the damage such attacks can have.
Harness Racing Victoria’s media and communications manager Cody Winnell said the words that are appropriate to describe the messages Manning received are “rancid, putrid and vile”.
“The person who made those comments ought to feel ashamed of their behavior,” he said.
Mr Winnell said he knew there wasn’t a name associated with the messages.
“This isn’t surprising to me. I’ve never seen an online troll that could possibly claim courage as a personal virtue,” he said.
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