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‘Irish d***head’: Warren Gatland reveals his troll's 'sinister' ongoing campaign
By Kim Ekin
Wales head coach Warren Gatland has revealed how he was the subjected to an ongoing trolling campaign as recent as this year's Rugby World Cup after they acquired his real phone number.
In the wake of Owen Farrell's decision to step down from international duty, Gatland shared empathy for Farrell and his family in his column penned for the Daily Telegraph.
He revealed that he has had an ongoing ordeal with an "Irish d***head" who is roughly the same age as the Kiwi head coach, with the Dublin-based troll sending him sarcastic and antagonising messages before and after big games for Wales.
"At first I thought the messages were just a joke from a mate. I had previously lived in Ireland, and it just came up as a message from an Irish number," he wrote.
"Yet the messages kept coming, not many but about half a dozen times a year, usually if we had lost a game, attempting to make a sarcastic comment or jibe. It was then I realised it was not a joke, but something more sinister.
"To make sure I knew the messages were coming from the troll, I saved his number under the name ‘Irish d***head’.
"Then, during the Six Nations I received a message from the same number, but this time his name came up on his WhatsApp message profile. Perhaps he didn’t realise, or perhaps he just didn’t care.
"I looked him up on the internet and established that he appeared to be a managing director of some company in Dublin."
It was when Gatland replied with the man's real name that he thought the messages would stop but the troll recently sent him a text that read 'Waltzing Matilda...' before the World Cup pool game against Australia before Wales dispatched them 40-6.
The Kiwi head coach was left "unsettled" by the exchanges with an unknown person being able to contact him at any time.
His experience firmed his belief that "things have gone too far" on what is a "sad day for rugby" that a competitor like Owen Farrell won't be playing next year's Six Nations.
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Latest Comments
I dont believe Skelton has ever proven himself at test level tho Nick. Yep he played well against a side they scored plenty against but his record v the top sides isnt special. Good quality player but Im not as convinced about him as you seem to be, as you base most of your opinion on his local club stuff not really his test performances. His test record of 30 tests in 10 years explains itself very well. I think he is an honest performer but certainly not a top notch International player.
Go to commentsI wonder Jake, who do you think is the best fit for Australia as a coach? Not since Joe Schmidt took over as coach did Australia look any good, however, there is always this debate around not having an Aussie coach by the fans and so called pundits and old players.
Some of them are changing their minds now however, but I would love to see who you would choose. I think Joe Schmidt is an excellent coach, who puts in everything for the team he is coaching. To him, there is no such thing as being biased.
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