By Belinda Nolan
CAROLINE Springs footballers have been targeted in a Facebook hate campaign.
Players from the Caroline Springs Lakers Football Club are being bullied and insulted on a Facebook page.
With more than 70 members, the partially private site refers to the football team as “scum” and uses the Lakers Logo as its profile photo.
Club president Dean Ellis told Star he was disgusted by the site, and would be investigating who was behind it.
Mr Ellis said he would consider reporting the site to the Western Region Football League (WRFL).
“I think it’s terrible,” Mr Ellis said.
“It’s just not fair when you’ve got kids doing their best and just want to play sport, and they’re being vilified for no good reason.”
Mr Ellis said any rival football players found posting malicious comments or gossip about other teams should face tough penalties.
The revelations come as the WRFL move to adopt new rules, which could see players suspended or deregistered for cyberbullying.
WRFL CEO Bob Tregar said the WRFL board was meeting to discuss cyberbullying issues in the next few weeks.
Mr Tregar said he believed cyberbullying was rife among suburban sporting teams, but said it had no place in the community.
“We’re looking at tightening up our rules before the next playing season begins,” Mr Tregar said.
Star has previously revealed several other Facebook pages attacking WRFL clubs.
Caroline Springs has previously been targeted by a page labelled, “Caroline Springs football club are sooks” while other pages have included “taking your Caroline Springs top off after a hard day of being scum” and “West Footscray are sh*t.”
