Kirsty Gilmour, Scotland’s best badminton player, says she has received a number of obscene messages threatening her with physical violence, rape, and even death. The messages have been too much, Gilmour said, arguing that she felt “violated” by the senders.
Gilmour Wants to Address the Problem of Abusive Sports Fans
Some of the people who texted her accused her of fixing her match against Gregoria Mariska Tunjung. Gilmour has since reported the case to the police but sought to bring more awareness to the incident as she thinks more has to be done to stop similar abuse from taking place in the first place.
Scottish players are abused by fans frequently, Gilmour commented for the BBC. She acknowledges why this happens – people bet on the outcome of games, lose, and then decide to blame the athletes. Gilmour also offered an insight into the mentality of such people:
It is never someone that’s watched the match and knows about badminton the sport. I am basically a random horserace to them, and it’s not gone their way, so they get personal.
Kirsty Gilmour, Scotland’s best badminton player
The athlete also told the media that such messages really can affect their intended target’s mental health. As Gilmour said, she was in an “OK” state of mind at the time when she was reading those messages, but athletes too have bad days and such assault on their personality could have more pernicious effects on their confidence and self-esteem, thus affecting their game down the road.
Attacking Her Personality, Attacking Her Game
Even then Gilmour seems to be upset about how these people tend to send her horrific messages, she is equally upset with the fact that they target her personality and her play – not just that they spout obscenities her way. But things are going to get better.
The Badminton World Federation and sports data firm Stats Perform have teamed up to offer further protection of the sport and work together to investigate cases that may be linked to match-fixing. It’s these cases that fans can be sort of miffed about, believes Gilmour as well.
She also argues, though, that because of fans’ behavior players may have a panic attack during a game and doubt their game and the backlash that they might experience as a result. This could happen in mid-game, she explains, leaving athletes lacking concentration in a game, and indeed appearing as if they were throwing their game.