Brisbane Broncos and Queensland forward Sam Thaiday target of racial abuse on social media
By Peter Badel
The Courier-Mail
June 07, 20129:24AM
A State of Origin storm has erupted on Twitter with Queensland enforcer Sam Thaiday forced to defend himself against a racist hate campaign, including a savage attack from a member of New South Wales' official supporters' group.
Thaiday has avoided the social networking site for the past fortnight after being subjected to a slew of personal attacks in the wake of Queensland's 18-10 victory in Origin I.
Several detractors have used Twitter as a platform to fire racial slurs at Thaiday, with critics of the Maroons hardman making slanderous references about his indigenous heritage
Some of the racial abuse is so severe it cannot be printed..
An offensive tweet was posted by Dylan Lockwood, who in his profile declares himself a "proud member of the Blatchy's Blues" - the official NSW Origin supporter group which boasts a 10,000-strong membership.
Thaiday, who has 4499 Twitter followers (Lockwood has 44), responds to the Blues fan by saying sarcastically: "Thanks for the great tweet mate . . . I hope you feel better you got that off your chest."
"I've stayed away from Twitter for the last two weeks, I have been getting sprayed on it," Thaiday said on Wednesday.
"It's everyone's opinion, they want to have their say and that is what social media is all about.
"I have my say on there but I just try and ignore that crap."
Thaiday said he could handle stinging critiques of his playing ability but not slurs about the colour of his skin.
"The racism stuff is nothing new to me but it does disappoint me," he said.
"People can come at me about my game but there is no need to bring the race card into it.
"If you want to attack me because I'm chubby or attack me because I missed a tackle, go for your life.
"But the deep personal stuff, the racial stuff, there's no need for that."
Created in 1999, Blatchy's Blues have become a brand in their own right, organising Origin supporters' tours to Brisbane via an official website.
The founder of the Blues' fan group, Dan Blatch, distanced himself from the attack on Thaiday.
Blatch said he was unaware of the Thaiday attack and offered a formal apology to the Broncos skipper on Wednesday.
"I wasn't aware of the Twitter post and as a group I do not condone it," Blatch said.
"That's concerning. I have a brand to protect and I'll be trying to track down the guy that posted it because it's not a good look for the game.
"We're about bringing good-natured fun to State of Origin, not abusing one of the game's leading players like Sam Thaiday."
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