1
Crusaders star sent home address to troll who threatened him
By Ian Cameron
Former Wales rugby international and current Crusaders star Johnny McNicholl confronted an abusive fan who threatened to "knock him out" by calling his bluff on social media.
The New Zealand-born back three player received social media messages criticizing his eligibility to represent Wales - culminating in one threatening violence.
In response - the 33-year-old who is now back playing for the struggling franchise in Super Rugby Pacific - shared his home address with the individual and invited him to follow through with the threat.
McNicholl moved to Llanelli in 2016 and became eligible to play for Wales through residency, earning his first of 10 caps in 2020. He found himself having to defend his right to play for Wales, ultimately taking action against one abusive troll online.
"I got a little bit of banter from the boys," McNicholl told the What a Lad podcast podcast. 'But that still exists to this day. But the brutal side of it was more so the fans, and the media. I did feel like a Welsh rugby player at that time of my career, I wasn’t Welsh but I felt like a Welsh player.
"I did cop a bit of heat, I had a few bad direct messages. The worst one was ‘Mate, if I see you in the street I’m going to knock you out because you’re not Welsh. He was directly messaging me saying that. I messaged him back saying ‘Flat 3, Aberdare House. Come knock on my door.’
"I’ve not got a good fight in me at all, but I was fuming. I was like, this guy is pissing me off. I went to sleep and he obviously didn’t come knock on my door. I woke up and blocked him and that was the first and last time I responded to anyone on social media."
McNicholl began his rugby career in New Zealand, playing as a versatile back for Canterbury in the ITM Cup. He also represented the Crusaders in Super Rugby.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Stuart Lancaster 'wants out' of Racing 92 and eyeing Euro giants job
3
Henry Arundell lined up for early England homecoming
4
Government provides bleak assessment on the state of the Premiership
5
Latest Comments
It is if he thinks he’s got hold of the ball and there is at least one other player between him and the ball carrier, which is why he has to reach around and over their heads. Not a deliberate action for me.
Go to commentsI understand, but England 30 years ago were a set piece focused kick heavy team not big on using backs.
Same as now.
South African sides from any period will have a big bunch of forwards smashing it up and a first five booting everything in their own half.
NZ until recently rarely if ever scrummed for penalties; the scrum is to attack from, broken play, not structured is what we’re after.
Same as now.
These are ways of playing very ingrained into the culture.
If you were in an English club team and were off to Fiji for a game against a club team you’d never heard of and had no footage of, how would you prepare?
For a forward dominated grind or would you assume they will throw the ball about because they are Fijian?
A Fiji way. An English way.
An Australian way depends on who you’ve scraped together that hasn’t been picked off by AFL or NRL, and that changes from generation to generation a lot of the time.
Actually, maybe that is their style. In fact, yes they have a style.
Nevermind. Fuggit I’ve typed it all out now.
Go to comments