Retiring Hartley's parting shots for the online nauses and trolls

Former England captain Dylan Hartley may have retired from playing rugby, but that does not mean that he is finished dealing with trolls on social media. 

The ex-Northampton Saints hooker even gave a special mention to the “nauses” and “trolls” in his parting message on Instagram, saying “I hope I made it interesting for you!”

As expected for someone that played 97 games for England, there was quite a response across the rugby world for the 2016 Grand Slam-winning captain and a fair share of those criticised him on social media. 

As successful as Hartley’s career was, it was also blighted by a lengthy number of bans which included 26 weeks for gouging, eleven weeks for verbal abuse of referee Wayne Barnes and eight weeks for biting. 

The 33-year-old unquestionably mellowed out as his career progressed, but he does not seem too concerned about his past indiscretions either. 

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In fact, when someone tried to highlight his checkered past on Twitter, asking whether there is a stat for how many times he was penalised or carded, he responded: “60 weeks. No-one’s having that off me.”

The hooker did not stop there, either, as he thanked Church's, the shoemakers, for providing him with shoes over the past 15 years, saying he “was always best dressed at my hearings”.

Hartley’s haul of 60 weeks of bans is quite staggering, as that is an enormous chunk of his career and it also saw him miss out on the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia. Equally, he does not seem too cut up about it. 

While his behaviour on the field at times should not be condoned, that was ultimately the player he was and that was what made him as successful as he was. 

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